Antisocial personalities among maximum security prisoners

[摘要] English: The longstanding elevated violent crime rate in South Africa urges research attention beyond the mere incidence of reported offences and environmental contributors to crime. Psychological factors require similar attention. Internationally, antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy and dissocial personality disorder, collectively known as antisocial personalities, have been strongly associated with criminality, and particularly violent crime. However, very little research focus has been awarded to these constructs in the developing world. To explore antisocial personalities in the South African context, a research project was launched, which will be discussed through five related, yet independent research articles. The research sample consisted of 500 male maximum security offenders from the Mangaung Correctional Centre situated near Bloemfontein. The first study focused on determining to which extent psychopathy is similar in construct in a developing country as in the Western world. Several studies have reaffirmed the construct validity of psychopathy among industrialised nations, yet almost no research has included developing countries. The neglect of local mental health research has led to the application of diagnostic criteria with limited clinical and nearly no scientific consideration of cultural contributions of the South African context. To determine the construct validity of psychopathy, as measured by the revised version of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI-R), factor analyses were conducted. Several items indicated low factor loadings and were consequently omitted from further analysis. The second study aimed to identify the prevalence of the antisocial personalities among the sample of offenders. Participants were assessed with the PPI-R, and subscales representing antisocial and dissocial personality disorders from the DSM-IV and ICD-10 Personality Questionnaire (DIP-Q). Results indicated a similar incidence of psychopathy and dissocial personality disorder than international studies. However, the incidence of antisocial personality disorder is much lower than international findings. The third and fourth study aimed to identify whether individuals meeting the criteria for antisocial personalities in the South African context also present stronger relationships with known associated constructs, such as aggression and criminal thinking styles. The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) were incorporated for this assessment. Results largely confirmed the relationship between antisocial personalities, aggression and criminal thinking styles. The fifth study consisted of a binary logistic regression analysis to determine whether psychopathic traits and/or criminal thinking styles could predict recidivistic behaviour in the South African context. Contrary to most international studies, results indicated that none of the PICTS subscales predicted possible recidivism, while only the Social Influence subscale of the PPI-R significantly predicted group membership between first offence and re-offence. All five studies include the comparison of results with those from similar studies, a discussion on the implications of the results, the limitations of the study, and recommendations for further research.

[发布机构] University of the Free State