Characteristics of a Group of Male Schizoid Adolescent Offenders

Abstract

The Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) was administered individually to 18 adolescent offenders diagnosed clinically as schizoid personalities and to their matched controls. It was predicted and verified that schizoid offenders would score lower on Extraversion (E). An analysis of E items suggests that the lower E scores can be attributed to responses indicating avoidance of social interaction. An examination of the nature of the offence shows that schizoids tend to commit sexual offences while offender and victim are alone, whereas the controls tend to commit property offences while in a group of two or more.