Child sexual abusers have typically been studied as a homogeneous group, comparing them with non-child sexual abusers. The present study was designed to examine the heterogeneity of child sexual abusers on a measure of psychopathology, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), the revised version of the MMPI. MMPI-2 profiles of 106 child sexual abusers in treatment for their offenses were cluster analyzed. Three clusters were obtained from the data, suggesting that child sexual abusers are heterogeneous as measured by the MMPI-2. The clusters were F-8-7-6 (n=15), elevated 4 scale (n=29), and within normal limits (n=62). A discriminant function generated by cluster membership was able to accurately classify 98.11% of the sample.The three clusters were replicated in an independent sample (n=50) drawn from the same population. The discriminant function generated on the derivation sample was applied to the validation sample, correctly classifying 80.00% of the subjects.The mean MMPI-2 profiles for the clusters in this study did not replicate mean profiles of clusters derived from similar research using the MMPI, indicating that the two instruments may not be equivalent for use in research using multivariate statistical techniques.The three clusters were tested against amount of self-reported sexual psychopathology as measured by the Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI). Discriminant function analysis indicated that cluster membership did predict degree of sexual psychopathology. In essence, the more elevated the mean MMPI-2 cluster profile, the more sexual psychopathology was reported. The clusters did not differ with regard to progress in treatment (though there were definite trends toward significant group differences in the data), nor did they differ with regard to victim and offender demographics. They did, however, differ with regard to level of intelligence, with the F-8-7-6 group being significantly lower in intelligence than the other two groups.The results of this study indicate that child sexual abusers are heterogeneous with regard to their MMPI-2 profiles, and that this heterogeneity can be used to form homogeneous groups. Additionally, homogeneous groups of child sexual abusers can be expected to differ on the basis of general psychopathology and sexual psychopathology. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/182155 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Wynkoop, Timothy F. |
| Contributors | Duckworth, Jane C. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | x, 117 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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