Characteristics of adolescents charged with homicide: Review of 72 cases

The present study examined a comparatively large sample of 72 adolescents charged with murder who were referred for pretrial evaluation in the State of Michigan over a 9-year period. Subjects are compared with a control group of 35 adolescents charged with nonviolent larceny offenses. Information regarding the adolescents' demographic and social background, and the circumstances of the offense, are presented. Recognition of the diverse motives and circumstances of adolescent homicide may help to explain discrepant characterizations of them presented in the literature.     

MMPI profiles of problem peace officers

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles of officers who had been involved in serious disciplinary actions were compared with those of a matched group of officers who had not been involved in such actions. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) found the profiles of the two groups to be significantly different, with Scales F, 5, 6, and 9 significantly higher and Scale L significantly lower for the problem group. In addition, subjects in the problem group were twice as likely to have a high-point elevation T-score greater than or equal to 70 as their nonproblem counterparts. Overall, these results indicate that any degree of psychopathology, as reflected by MMPI profile elevations, increases the likelihood of serious job performance problems. In addition, a presentation of self as conventional and moderately defended is associated with a lesser likelihood of job difficulty, whereas characteristics such as hypersensitivity, impulsivity, and poor frustration tolerance contribute to significant job problems.     

MMPI response-set characteristics among adolescents

This study examined the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MPPI) profile characteristics for five different response sets in adolescent populations employing adolescent MMPI norms. In general, findings for "all-true" and "all-false" adolescent profiles were highly similar in shape and elevation to those reported in the adult literature (Graham, 1977; Lachar, 1974), whereas random profiles on adolescent norms differed substantially from adult-norm random profiles in shape but not elevation. The characteristics of "fake good" or "fake bad" response sets were investigated by the use of adolescent subjects in two settings. Ninety-four public high-school students were administered the MMPI with standard and "fake bad" instructions, and 24 adolescents in inpatient psychiatric treatment were administered the MMPI under standard and "fake good" instructions. The MMPI profiles generated by special instructional sets were analyzed in relation to the subject's age, sex, race, and actual MMPI profile features. Findings indicated that although sex and race effects were evident in normal adolescents' attempts to simulate psychopathology on the MMPI, teenagers generally produce profiles containing grossly exaggerated symptom patterns that are relatively easy to detect as invalid. In contrast, it was found that a substantial number of psychiatrically disturbed adolescents may effectively simulate normal profiles and that effectiveness in these attempts was related to greater age and lower actual MMPI T-score values on the Hs and Hy scales.     

Assessing adolescents who threaten homicide in schools

Psychoanalytic and psychiatric perspectives on children who threaten to kill others are reviewed in the context of the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the problem. Converging technologies derived from a psychoanalytically informed social systems model are compared to law enforcement approaches, psychoanalytic understanding of the individual dynamics of the child, and empirical research on conduct disordered adolescents. The interdisciplinary orientation of a broadly trained community psychoanalyst allows a unique contribution when trying to distinguish adolescents who make a threat from those who pose a threat. Case vignettes are used to illustrate the hypotheses.     

MMPI short forms with adolescents: gender differences in accuracy

The influence of gender on accuracy for eight short forms of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was investigated using a sample of adolescents. MMPI responses from 318 male and 248 female psychiatric patients, aged 12 to 17, were scored for the standard MMPI, Mini-Mult (using two methods; Kincannon, 1968), Midi-Mult (Dean, 1972), two Maxi-Mults (McLachlan, 1974; Spera & Robertson, 1974), Hugo Short Form (Hugo, 1972), Faschingbauer Abbreviated MMPI (FAM; Faschingbauer, 1974), and MMPI-168 (Overall & Gomez-Mont, 1974). Discrepancy values were obtained for all short-form T-scores by subtracting each short-form T-score from its corresponding standard form T-score. These discrepancy values were analyzed using Gender x Short Form repeated measures multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs). Because the number of scales varied among the short forms, two separate analyses were performed, one containing all short forms but only the 11 scales that appeared on all short forms and the other containing all scales but only the three short forms that contained all scales. McLachlan's (1974) Maxi-Mult was excluded from the analysis because of its nearly identical statistical properties to Spera and Robertson's (1974) Maxi-Mult. The interaction was significant on most scales in both analyses. Simple-effects breakdowns of the interactions revealed that the accuracy of each short form differed according to gender on several scales, following no consistent pattern. The Midi-Mult and Maxi-Mult are guardedly recommended as the short forms with the lowest number of scales showing a gender difference; however, the reader is cautioned that this difference is still present in more than one third of the scales. Further research on short-form development is advocated.     

The conjunction fallacy in profiles of victims of homicide

Using basic probability theory, estimates of the characteristics of the average homicide victim are calculated using the notion of disjoint probability. The assumption of disjoint events (e.g., the victim's race bears no effect on the offender's weapon choice) is then tested empirically using the Uniform Crime Report‐Supplementary Homicide Report. Exploratory results suggest that many demographic and situational characteristics taken together are only slightly more related than chance. Put simply, the average profile of homicide victims portrayed by the media becomes less likely as demographic variables are added. A survey was conducted to test whether individuals conjoined these characteristics, thinking they were more likely to occur together. Consistent with the conjunction fallacy, many participants overestimated the likelihood that certain demographic or situational characteristics will occur together, and some overestimated it to a mathematically impossible degree. These two experiments showcase the difficulty in displaying statistical profiling and how it affects the public's perception of offenders.     

MMPI profiles of adolescent substance abusers in treatment

The non-K-corrected MMPI profiles of 243 adolescents presenting themselves for chemical dependency treatment in a residential setting were examined. Results suggested a general lack of psychopathology in this population, although a significant elevation on the Pd scale did emerge. These data are compared to the findings of previous studies with both adolescent and adult populations.     

MMPI profiles of women in codependency treatment.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles of 73 women presenting themselves for treatment of codependency in a 10-day residential setting were examined. Results suggest a significant amount of psychopathology to be present in this population. More than 50% of these individuals produced clinically significant elevations of five or more scales, and 38% produced elevations on six or more scales.