NCJ Number
168558
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: September 1997 Pages: 259-274
Date Published
1997
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study identified the typical personality profiles of veterans who have perpetrated domestic violence.
Abstract
The sample (n=183) was drawn from the population of veterans who entered a domestic violence treatment program at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center from 1992 to 1995. All members of the population completed the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II) as part of the program's standard intake procedure. This is a 175-item, true-false, self-report inventory of psychological functioning intended for use with clinical populations. It contains 10 clinical personality pattern scales. Cluster analysis revealed that the MCMI-II profiles of the sample fell into three clusters. These clusters were labeled Subclinical Narcissism, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and High General Psychopathology/Substance Dependence. The only MCMI-II scales with base-rate scores over 60 for the Subclinical Narcissism cluster were, from highest to lowest, the Narcissistic, Desirability, Compulsive, Histrionic, Antisocial, and Aggressive/Sadistic scales. None of these scales reached a base- rate score of 75. The cluster labeled Narcissistic Personality Disorder consisted of 85 patients who generally scored higher than patients in the Subclinical Narcissism cluster but lower than patients in the third cluster. These subjects obtained the highest scores on the Desirability, Dependent, Histrionic, Narcissistic, Compulsive, Somatoform Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder scales relative to patients in the other clusters. The 46 subjects in cluster 3 scored higher on most MCMI-II scales than the subjects in other clusters. The typical MCMI-II profile for each cluster is discussed in terms of how it might be associated with domestic violence. Since this typology development allows a fuller understanding of veterans who have perpetrated domestic violence, it is useful for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. 2 tables, 3 figures, and 21 references