NCJ Number
153928
Journal
Journal of Clinical Psychology Volume: 50 Issue: 2 Dated: (March 1994) Pages: 200-208
Date Published
1994
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study tests the hypothesis that the application of cluster analytic techniques to police personality data will reveal two or three distinct police personality profiles.
Abstract
Recently, Eber (1991) reported on several large-scale studies of law enforcement candidates. The main measures were the two parts of the Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (Krug, Cattell, and IPAT, 1980). Part I consists of the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire Scales, and Part II addresses 12 measures of psychopathology. Eber's most striking finding was a clear personality profile characterized by a strong pattern of self- discipline or Control, Tough Poise, and Low Anxiety. The hypothesis of the current study was that several police personality profiles would be found. This conjecture was tested on the 16 personality-factor scores of two samples of 275 police candidates by means of the Ward (1963) hierarchical clustering procedure and the Milligan/Sokal (1980) nonhierarchical K-means cluster procedures. The study's major finding was that individuals who were seeking admission into police training programs could be categorized into three robust profile groups that were differentiated reliably on a number of dimensions of psychopathology. The largest subgroup (Cluster 2) resembled Eber's description of the "good" or typical cop. One in four (26.9 percent) candidates, however, fell into a group (Cluster 1) that was associated with relatively high levels of paranoia, schizophrenia, psychasthenia, and other symptoms. Compared to the "good" cops, Cluster 1 was lower in self-control and extraversion and much higher in anxiety. Cluster 3 subjects scored in the middle on Emotional Adjustment, Integrity/Control, and Intellectual Efficiency, but were lowest on Interpersonal Relations. 6 tables and 26 references