Impression Management and Self-Report Among Violent Offenders

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy F. Mills ◽  
Daryl G. Kroner
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Gullotta ◽  
David Greenberg ◽  
Olayan Albalawi ◽  
Armita Adily ◽  
Azar Karminia ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Prisoners complete suicide and self-harm more frequently than members of the community. Sex offenders have been found to be at greater risk of engaging in these behaviours. This study examines the characteristics, prevalence, and predictors of self-harm and suicide attempts among: sex offenders that only victimise children (ChildSOs); adults (AdultSOs); or both (age-crossover polymorphous; PolySOs). Methods Data from three waves (1996, 2001, 2009) of the New South Wales (NSW) Inmate Health Survey was linked to the State’s re-offending database to identify men with histories of sexual offending. The health surveys captured self-report data on self-harm and suicidality. Results Non-sexual violent offenders (15%) and AdultSOs (14%) had the highest rate of self-harm, significantly more than ChildSOs (11%), non-sexual non-violent offenders (10%), and PolySOs (0%). Several factors significantly predicted self-harm at the bivariate level for both ChildSOs and AdultSOs, with unique predictors for each group. At the multivariate level, manic-depression trended towards significance for ChildSOs and any mental health condition remained a significant predictor for AdultSOs who self-harmed relative to AdultSOs who had not (aOR = 11.989, 95%CI [1.14, 126.66]). Approximately 23% of AdultSOs, 22% of PolySOs, and 19% of ChildSOs reported a suicide attempt throughout their lifetime, whereas only 15% of non-sexual non-violent offenders reported an attempt. At the bivariate level, few factors were significant for ChildSOs while several factors were significant for AdultSOs. At the multivariate level, a diagnosis of depression and treatment with psychiatric medication trended towards being significant predictors of suicide attempts for ChildSOs. In contrast, treatment with psychiatric medication (aOR = 25.732, 95%CI [1.91, 347.19])] remained a significant predictor for AdultSOs who attempted suicide relative to AdultSOs who had not, as well as historical psychiatric hospitalisation (aOR = 6.818, 95%CI [1.04, 44.82]) and self-harm (aOR = 5.825, 95%CI [1.31, 25.99]). Conclusion Sex offenders are at significantly higher risk of attempting and completing suicide relative to non-sexual non-violent offenders and warrant special attention. The prevalence rates and predictors of self-harm and suicidality suggest differences between sex offender subgroups may exist. These hold implications for the criminal justice and public health systems for addressing needs and identifying those most at risk of self-harm and suicide.


Author(s):  
Johan Berlin ◽  
André Tärnhäll ◽  
Björn Hofvander ◽  
Märta Wallinius

Author(s):  
Julie Palix ◽  
Ahmad Abu-Akel ◽  
Valérie Moulin ◽  
Milena Abbiati ◽  
Jacques Gasser ◽  
...  

Since lack of empathy is an important indicator of violent behaviors, researchers need consistent and valid measures. This study evaluated the practical significance of a potential physiological correlate of empathy compared to a traditional self-report questionnaire in 18 male violent offenders and 21 general population controls. Empathy skills were assessed with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) questionnaire. Heart-Rate Variability (HRV) was assessed with an electrocardiogram. The RMSSD (Root Mean Square of the Successive beat-to-beat Differences), an HRV index implicated in social cognition, was calculated. There were no group differences in IRI scores. However, RMSSD was lower in the offender group. Positive correlations between RMSSD and IRI subscales were found for controls only. We conclude that psychometric measures of empathy do not discriminate incarcerated violent offenders, and that the incorporation of psychophysiological measures, such as HRV, could be an avenue for forensic research on empathy to establish translatable evidence-based information.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-128
Author(s):  
Graham Pluck ◽  
◽  
Pablo Emilio Barrera Falconi ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  

Computational modeling and brain imaging studies suggest that sensitivity to rewards and behaviorist learning principles partly explain smartphone engagement patterns and potentially smartphone dependence. Responses to a questionnaire, and observational measures of smartphone use were recorded for 121 university students. Each participant was also tested with a laboratory task of reward sensitivity and a test of verbal operant conditioning. Twenty-three percent of the sample had probable smartphone addiction. Using multivariate regression, smartphone use, particularly the number of instant messenger services employed, was shown to be significantly and independently predicted by reward sensitivity (a positive relationship), and by instrumental conditioning (a negative relationship). However, the latter association was driven by a subset of participants who developed declarative knowledge of the response-reinforcer contingency. This suggests a process of impression management driven by experimental demand characteristics, producing goal-directed instrumental behavior not habit-based learning. No other measures of smartphone use, including the self-report scale, were significantly associated with the experimental tasks. We conclude that stronger engagement with smartphones, in particular instant messenger services, may be linked to people being more sensitive to rewarding stimuli, suggestive of a motivational or learning mechanism. We propose that this mechanism could underly problem smartphone use and dependence. It also potentially explains why some aspects of smartphone use, such as habitual actions, appear to be poorly measured by technology-use questionnaires. A serendipitous secondary finding confirmed that smartphone use reflected active self-presentation. Our ‘conditioning’ task-induced this behavior in the laboratory and could be used in social-cognition experimental studies.


Author(s):  
JaeYoon Chang ◽  
Sanghee Nam

This study aimed to examine how social desirability responding(SDR) affects the criterion-related validity of self-reported personality. Specifically, this study examined how SDR, impression management(IM) and self deceptive enhancement(SDE) can take distinct effects on criteria when personality traits of 91 expatriates such as empathy, cooperation, and friendliness predict their performance criteria. Although previous studies suggested either suppression or moderation effects of SDR, the results indicated that there was no suppression effects but statistically significant moderation effects of SDE on the link between each of some predictors(empathy and cooperation) and expatriate’s negative emotional expression and helping behavior in organization rated by peers(host country nationals). However, such effects were not supported in case of IM. The importance of specifying two factors of SDR and suggestions for the future research were discussed.


Author(s):  
Cathrine Pettersen ◽  
Kevin L. Nunes ◽  
Franca Cortoni

The Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) is a self-report measure of aggressiveness commonly employed in nonforensic and forensic settings and is included in violent offender pre- and posttreatment assessment batteries. The aim of the current study was to assess the fit of the four-factor model of the AQ with violent offenders ( N = 271), a population for which the factor structure of the English version of the AQ has not previously been examined. Confirmatory factor analyses did not yield support for the four-factor model of the original 29-item AQ. Acceptable fit was obtained with the 12-item short form, but careful examination of the relationships between the latent factors revealed that the four subscales of the AQ may not represent distinct aspects of aggressiveness. Our findings call into question whether the AQ optimally measures trait aggressiveness among violent offenders.


Assessment ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 999-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon E. Kelley ◽  
John F. Edens ◽  
Leslie C. Morey

The present study is the first to investigate the Personality Assessment Screener, a brief self-report measure of risk for emotional and behavioral dysfunction, in relation to the informant report version of this instrument, the Personality Assessment Screener–Other. Among a sample of undergraduate roommate dyads ( N = 174), self-report and informant report total scores on the Personality Assessment Screener/Personality Assessment Screener–Other moderately converged ( r = 0.45), with generally greater agreement between perspectives observed for externalizing behaviors compared with internalizing distress. In addition, selves tended to report more psychological difficulties relative to informant ratings ( d = 0.45) with an average absolute discrepancy between sources of 6.31 ( SD = 4.96) out of a possible range of 66. Discrepancies between self-report and informant report were significantly associated with characteristics of the dyadic relationship (e.g., length of acquaintanceship) as well as the severity of self-reported psychological difficulties and positive impression management.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Kosinski

A growing number of studies have linked facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) with various antisocial or violent behavioral tendencies. However, those studies have predominantly been laboratory based and low powered. This work reexamined the links between fWHR and behavioral tendencies in a large sample of 137,163 participants. Behavioral tendencies were measured using 55 well-established psychometric scales, including self-report scales measuring intelligence, domains and facets of the five-factor model of personality, impulsiveness, sense of fairness, sensational interests, self-monitoring, impression management, and satisfaction with life. The findings revealed that fWHR is not substantially linked with any of these self-reported measures of behavioral tendencies, calling into question whether the links between fWHR and behavior generalize beyond the small samples and specific experimental settings that have been used in past fWHR research.


2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica O. Forde ◽  
Evan Odensky ◽  
Sunetra Martinez ◽  
Paul Cinciripini ◽  
David W. Wetter ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 645-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID J. SIMOURD ◽  
JOELLE M. MAMUZA

This study explored the psychometric properties and construct validity of a new measure of hostility, the Hostile Interpretations Questionnaire (HIQ). The sample consisted of 146 violent offenders incarcerated in a Canadian federal institution. Participants completed a battery of self-report psychometric measures as part of a pre-release psychological assessment. Results indicated that the HIQ had acceptable internal consistency reliability ( r = .86) and demonstrated construct validity with relevant anger/hostility measures. Implications of the findings with respect to theory and practice are considered.


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