Differences between severely conduct-disordered juvenile males and normal juvenile males:: the study of personality traits

Personality traits among a group of 47 severely conduct-disordered (C-D) juvenile males from four Swedish national correctional institutions for serious offences were studied. The Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-I), including an impulsivity scale from the Impulsiveness-Venturesomeness-Empathy (IVE) inventory, and the Zuckerman Sensation-Seeking Scales (SSS) form V, were administered to the C-Djuveniles. The scores from the KSP for this group were compared to scores from a representative group of 82 normal juvenile male subjects from the Swedish longitudinal research program individual Development and Adaptation (IDA). Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated between the KSP scales and scares from the EPQ-I, and between the SSS and scales from the EPQ-I and KSP inventories. The C-D juveniles displayed notably higher scores than the mean normal scores on psychopathy-related personality scales. The present results are consistent with earlier findings concerning personality dimensions in adult criminal psychopaths: high scores on impulsivity and sensation seeking, and low scores on conformity reflected in low socialization and high psychoticism. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.