Rorschach Investigation of Incarcerated Females Offenders With Antisocial Personality Disorder

• NCJ Number: 211573
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 49 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2005 Pages: 530-546
• Author(s): Ted Cunliffe; Carl B. Gacono
• Date Published: October 2005
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study used the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and the Rorschach to assess the personality functioning of 45 incarcerated female offenders with antisocial personality disorders (ASPD) delineated by their psychopathy level.

Abstract

The sample consisted of 40 female inmates in 3 women's correctional facilities: 2 low-medium-security Federal prisons in California (n=23) and a female prison in Wyoming (n=17). Five other participants were obtained from Gacono and Meloy's (1994) files of female offenders with ASPD. The participants were incarcerated for violent offenses, drug offenses, fraud, theft, sex offenses, and other unknown offenses. All participants met the DSM-IV criteria for ASPD. The PCL-R was used to assess each participant's level of psychopathy. Those with scores greater than 30 were included in the high psychopathy group. Rorschach protocols were scored for self-focus; defensiveness; aggrandizement; sense of self-damage; painful rumination; psychological mindedness; affectional relatedness; expectations of perceptual accuracy; and the human experience variable, which relates to the quality of interpersonal relatedness. The study found that compared to female offenders with ASPD who were nonpsychopathic, those with ASPD who were psychopathic exhibited marked disturbances in self-perception, interpersonal relatedness, and reality testing. These findings show the heterogeneity of the ASPD diagnosis in women and support the utility of the psychopathy construct with female offenders. The findings also indicate important differences between men and women with ASPD. These gender differences have implications for the evaluation and treatment of female offenders. The findings are discussed in the context of the female psychopath's hypothesized hysterical character style. 1 table, 5 notes, and 51 references