This study compared two major research strategies which have been used to classify assaultive criminal offenders as overcontrolled: (1) MMPI Overcontrolled-Hostility (O-H) scale scores and case history information; and, (2) statistical cluster analyses of MMPI profiles. The two procedures have been presumed to be assessing the same construct (i.e., overcontrolled hostility), although the reliability of the two procedures had not been assessed. A central question was whether subjects would be similarly classified as overcontrolled (OC) by both methods. / The subjects were 128 violent mentally disordered male offenders. Case history and O-H score, alone and together, and cluster analysis of MMPI clinical scales (non K-corrected) were used to classify subjects. The study tested six hypotheses aimed at determining whether an identifiable Controlled cluster would emerge, whether there was agreement or convergence between clinical classification as Overcontrolled and cluster analytic classification as Controlled, and whether there was a predicted association between O-H scores and Controlled cluster membership. These hypotheses were also tested using the revised and re-standardized MMPI-2 and the modified O-H scale, which were estimated from MMPI responses. / The hypotheses were supported using both the MMPI and the estimated MMPI-2. It was suggested that the two classification methods were similar but not identical in terms of the classification decisions they yielded and that the Controlled cluster is composed of both normal and Overcontrolled persons whereas the group classified based on O-H and case history as Overcontrolled is more homogeneous. Implications for assessment, treatment, and future research were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-08, Section: B, page: 4485. / Major Professor: Edwin I. Megargee. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76476 |
| Contributors | White, Adam Jason., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 143 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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