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PERSONALITY AND SELF-REPORTED DELINQUENCY AN APPLICATION OF CLUSTER ANALYSIS

NCJ Number
8276
Journal
Criminology Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: (NOVEMBER 1972) Pages: 268-294
Author(s)
M J HINDELANG; J G WEIS
Date Published
1972
Length
27 pages
Annotation
ATTEMPT TO GROUP INDIVIDUALS INTO PERSONALITY TYPES ACCORDING TO THEIR SCORES ON EXTROVERSION AND NEUROTICISM AND FORM STATISTICAL CLUSTERS OF DELINQUENT ACTIVITIES.
Abstract
THE REPORT ATTEMPTS TO DEMONSTRATE COMPUTER APPLICATION OF CLUSTER ANALYSIS TO A CRIMINOLOGICAL PROBLEM. THE AUTHORS HAVE TAKEN A THEORY THAT INDIVIDUALS WHO COMMIT CRIMES ARE MORE EXTROVERTED AND NEUROTIC THAN THOSE WHO DO NOT COMMIT CRIMES, AND TRACED THE STEPS USED TO TEST THE THEORY BY MULTIVARIATE STATISTICAL PROCEDURES. THE OBJECTIVE OF CLUSTER ANALYSIS AS DEMONSTRATED IN THIS REPORT IS TO GROUP VARIABLES WHICH ARE SIMILAR TO EACH OTHER IN THE SAME CLUSTER AND TO GROUP VARIABLES WHICH ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER IN DIFFERENT CLUSTERS THAT IS, TO EXTRACT CLUSTERS WITH MINIMUM WITHIN-CLUSTER VARIATION AND MAXIMUM BETWEEN - CLUSTER VARIATION. IDEALLY, THE RESULTANT CLUSTERS WILL PRESENT A CONCEPTUALLY SIMPLER PICTURE OF THE ORIGINAL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG VARIABLES IN THE MATRIX OF INTERCORRELATIONS.