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Personality and sexual anomalies

An examination of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory

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Annals of sex research

Abstract

Test properties of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) were examined in a sample of 419 sex offenders and controls in three different settings. The offender group included sexual aggressives, pedophiles, incest perpetrators and miscellaneous cases. Nineteen of the 20 scales of the MCMI had alpha reliability over 0.60 and for 13 scales it was over 0.80. The scales showed satisfactory discriminant validity from age but 9 scales showed a moderate influence of intelligence scores and education. Criminal history did not influence scale results. The scales unfortunately did show significant correlations with MMPI validity scales. Although the scales were not susceptible to naive lying, they were influenced by social desirability especially. Four factors were extracted in principal axes factor analysis that accounted for 91.2% of the total variance. The first factor explained 58.2% of the variance and was labeled general psychopathology. The other three factors suggested psychotic tendencies, extraversion and the bipolar dependency-antisocial tendencies. When the groups were compared, almost all scales significantly differentiated them. When the MMPI F-K Scale was forced to enter a stepwise discriminant analysis first, five scales still were significant; Narcissistic, Schizoid-Asocial, Alcohol Abuse, Paranoid, & Dependent-Submissive scales. The MCMI taps important dimensions in sex offenders but suffers from validity problems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto

    R. Langevin PhD

  2. Institute of Psychology & Law, Edmonton, Alberta

    R. Lang PhD

  3. Ontario Correctional Institution, Brampton

    R. Reynolds PhD

  4. Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto

    P. Wright MA, D. Garrels MA, V. Marchese BSc & L. Handy

  5. Institute of Psychology & Law, Edmonton

    G. Pugh PhD & R. Frenzel BSc

Authors
  1. R. Langevin PhD
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  2. R. Lang PhD
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  3. R. Reynolds PhD
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  4. P. Wright MA
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  5. D. Garrels MA
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  6. V. Marchese BSc
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  7. L. Handy
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  8. G. Pugh PhD
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  9. R. Frenzel BSc
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Langevin, R., Lang, R., Reynolds, R. et al. Personality and sexual anomalies. Annals of Sex Research 1, 13–32 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00852880

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