Personality Differences Between Male and Female Prison Inmates

Abstract

Most of the research on classification of prisoners has been conducted solely with male samples. The present study compared MMPI profiles of male and female prisoners. Males showed significantly higher means on Hs and D and females on Si and Pa, particularly the Pa2 subscale. Both sexes has elevated Pd scales. It was concluded that male inmates appear to be more anti-social with neurotic overlays, while the female inmates appear more asocial than anti-social with overlays of greater emotional sensitivity-a finding supportive of a continuation of similar adolescent behavioral characteristics of Hathaway and Monachesi.