Abstract
The objective of this research is to study the personality characteristics of a sample of men and women who are serving prison sentences in Spanish prisons, to determine their distinguishing characteristics, and to analyze whether the personality traits are related to the type of crime for which they are condemned. The sample is composed of 294 inmates (265 men and 29 women) (M = 41.20; SD = 10.51). The results indicate that the main crime for which they are imprison is for acts against property that involve violence or threat of violence against people (30.4%); to a lesser extent, acts that involve the use of psychoactive substances or other drugs (19.8%); acts that cause harm or that are intended to cause harm to people (17.9%); and acts that cause death or are intended to cause death (13.9%). Paranoia is the personality trait that most predicts criminal behaviors consisting of acts against people (homicide, injuries, and threats). Acts against property involving violence or threat against a person are more likely in people who have problems with alcohol and antisocial behavior. Finally, borderline personality traits are associated more with acts involving controlled psychoactive substances or other drugs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acero R, Escobar-Córdoba F, Castellanos G (2007) Factores de riesgo para la violencia y homicidio juvenil. [Risk factors for violence and juvenile homicide]. Rev Colomb Psiquiatr XXXVI(1):78–97
Arias WL, Canales FR, De la Torre N (2016) Características psicopatológicas en los reclusos del Penal de Socabaya de Arequipa (Perú). [Psychopathological characteristics in the inmates of the Socabaya Prison in Arequipa (Peru)]. An Psic Jur 26:80–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apj.2015.08.001
Ben-Porath YS, Tellegen A (2015) MMPI–2–RF. Inventario Multifásico de Personalidad de Minnesota-2 Reestructurado (P. santamaria, adaptador). TEA Ediciones, Madrid
Burneo-Garcés C (2017) Modalidades de agresión en entornos penitenciarios hispanohablantes. [Modalities of aggression in Spanish-speaking penitentiary settings]. (Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Granada, Granada). Retrieved from http://digibug.ugr.es/handle/10481/47998#.WoVmbujOXD4
Cardenal V, Ortiz-Tallo M, Santamaría P, Sánchez MP (2011) Adaptación española del inventario de evaluación de la Personalidad (PAI). [Spanish adaptation of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI)]. TEA, Madrid
Cardenal M, Sánchez M (2007) MCMI-III, inventario clínico multiaxial de Millon-III, manual. Tea Ediciones, Madrid
Clinard MB, Quinney R, Wildeman J (2015) Criminal behavior systems. A typology, 3rd edn. Taylor & Francis, New York
Dausey DJ, Greenberg G, Valasek J, Cook T, Teufel J, Pilver L, Desai R (2016) Sex differences in risk factors and conditions of incarcerated violent offenders. Health Syst Policy Res 3(4). https://doi.org/10.21767/2254-9137.100056
Edens JF, Cruise KR, Buffington-Vollum JK (2001) Forensic and correctional applications of the Personality Assessment Inventory. Behav Sci Law 19:519–543. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.457
Evers A, Muñiz J, Bartram D, Boben D, Egeland J, Fernández-Hermida JR, Frans Ö, Gintiliené G, Hagemeister C, Halama P, Iliescu D, Jaworowska A, Jiménez P, Manthouli M, Matesic K, Schittekatte M, Sümer HC, Urbánek T (2012) Testing practices in the 21st century: developments and European psychologists’s opinions. Eur Psychol 17(4):300–319. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000102
Fazel S, Seewald K (2012) Severe mental illness in 33.588 prisoners worldwide: systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Br J Psychiatry J Ment Sci 200(5):364–373. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.111.096370
Gardner BO, Boccaccini MT, Bitting BS, Edens JF (2015) Personality Assessment Inventory scores as predictors of misconduct, recidivism, and violence: a meta-analytic review. Psichol Assess 27:534–544. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000065
James D, Glaze L (2006) Mental health problems of prisons and jail inmates. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, D.C.
Marín-Basallote N, Navarro-Repiso C (2012) Estudio de la prevalencia de trastorno mental grave (TMG) en los centros penitenciarios de Puerto I, II y III del Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz): nuevas estrategias en la asistencia psiquiátrica en las prisiones. [Study of the prevalence of severe mental disorder (TMG) in the prisons of Puerto I, II and III of Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz): new strategies in psychiatric care in prisons]. Rev Esp Sanid Penit 14(3):80–85
Molina-Coloma V, Salaberría K, Pérez JI (2018) La personalidad en población carcelaria: un estudio comparativo en Ecuador. [Personality in the prison population: a comparative study in Ecuador]. An Psic Jur 28:1–7. https://doi.org/10.5093/apj2018a5
Morey LC (2007) Personality Assessment Inventory. Psychological Assessment Resources, Florida
Morey LC, Quigley BD (2002) The use or Personality Assessment Inventory in assessing offender. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol 46:333–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X02463007
Oficina de las Naciones Unidas Contra la Droga y el Delito (2015). Clasificación internacional de delitos con fines estadísticos, versión 1.0. [International classification of crimes for statistical purposes, version 1.0.]. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/ICCS/ICCS_SPANISH_2016_web.pdf
Reidy T, Sorensen JR, Davidson M (2016) Testing the predictive validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) in relation to inmate misconduct and violence. Psychol Assess 28(8):871–884. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000224
Seijo D, Fariña F, Vilariño M (2014) Procedimientos y técnicas para la evaluación psicológica forense [Procedures and techniques for forensic psychological evaluation]. In: Salud y Bienestar. GEU Editorial
Torrado M, Berlanga V (2013) Análisis discriminante mediante SPSS. [Discriminant analysis through SPSS]. Revista d’Innovació i Recerca en Educació 6(2):150–166. https://doi.org/10.1344/reire2013.6.26210
Vicens E, Tort V, Dueñas RM, Muro A, Pérez-Arnau F, Arroyo-Cobo JM (2011) The prevalence of mental disorders in Spanish prisons. Crim Behav Ment Health 21(5):321–323. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.815
Villagrá P, González A, Fernández P, Casares MJ, Martín JL, Rodriguez F (2011) Perfil adictivo, delictivo y psicopatológico de una muestra de mujeres en prisión. [Addictive, criminal and psychopathological profile of a sample of women in prison]. Adicciones 23(3):219–226
Zabala-Baños MC, Segura A, Maestre-Miquel C, Martínez-Lorca M, Rodríguez-Martín B, Romero D, Rodríguez M (2016) Mental disorder prevalence and associated risk factors in three prisons of Spain. Rev Esp Sanid Penit 18(1):13–23. https://doi.org/10.4321/S1575-06202016000100003
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.
Ethics declarations
Ethics Statement
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Coruña (Spain). Data were processed in compliance with the Spanish Data Protection Law. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Penado Abilleira, M., Rodicio-García, M.L. Personality Characteristics Associated with Different Criminal Typologies in a Sample of Spanish Inmates. J Police Crim Psych 35, 219–227 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9296-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9296-7