| It is not definitive as to what personality characteristics are more applicable to violent criminal offenders as compared to their non-violent counterparts. This study examined the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) profiles of violent and non-violent adult criminal offenders to establish if there were any personality traits that were significantly different between them. Statistically significant differences were found in the scales of Inconsistency (INC), Infrequency (INF), Antisocial (ANT), and Anxiety Related Disorders (ARD). The self-reported level of Aggression (AGG) was also examined based on the offenders' age and ethnicity, revealing that younger offenders and African American offenders endorsed significantly greater levels of Aggression (AGG). A discriminant function assessed the ability and accuracy to categorize offenders into their respective groups. Results demonstrated that the discriminant function identified Inconsistency (INC), Anxiety Related Disorders (ARD), Schizophrenia (SCZ), Antisocial (ANT), and Aggression (AGG) scales as able to classify violent and non-violent group membership at a statistically significant rate. Potential factors leading to these findings, as well as future implications of this work, are discussed. |
