The MMPI : a subscale (Ic) for the identification of male incest offenders

Abstract

The MMPI has been used extensively for the clinical assessment of deviancy among sexual offenders. In order to derive a diagnostic scale for the specific identification of male incest offenders, an item analysis, using MMPI data from offenders, compared MMPI data from a nonoffending control sample. The item analysis results were cross validated with MMPI data from a separate sample of incest offenders.Eleven MMPI items were found to be critical in discriminating male incest offenders from nonoffenders, and these items comprise the .!.£ experimental scale. On the basis of the .!.£ scale, male incest offenders evidence characterological disturbances in the form of pervasive feelings of psychological and social inadequacy. 2 TO THE OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH:The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Mary S. Dolan presented February 27, 1985.Hug<i Mafnard, Ch'aj r / ychology ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to Toni Farrenkopf, Ph.D., for his generosity in allowing me access to his clinical files on incest offenders; to Robert Kopp, for his competence in performing the computerized statistical analyses; to Linda Ladd, for reference sources, and for permitting me the use of her MMPI data that formed the control sample; and to Sally Lopez, for her expert typing services. In particular, I owe an enormous debt to two special individuals: To Peter, for the original idea of the present study, for his support and good-natured prodding, and especially for his laughter--to be repaid with interest. And to Terry, who never gave up hope, who never lost confidence in me, and who has always been supportive and encouraging. Thank you. Thornton, 1983;Harris, 1984;Kempe & Kempe, 1984;Rush, 1980;Watson, Lubenow, Greenberg, King, & Junkin, 1984). By its very nature, incest--especially between parent and child--is an emotionally laden and socially unacceptable form of sexual abuse.The practice of incest is a universal taboo (Herman & Hirschman, 1981;Sarles, 1975). In describing kinship structures, Levi-Strauss (1969, p. 481) considered the incest taboo to be "the fundamental and immutable rule" that provides the foundation for the existence of all social groups. Freud (1913Freud ( /1946 regarded the taboo as the "basis for all other social obligations and moral restrictions" within a cultural system. The formulation of the incest taboo has been explained, in part, as deriving from an inherent biological prohibition against inbreeding (Lindzey, 1967}, as a social measure to insure the integrity, cohesiveness, and solidarity of the family unit (Lester, 1972), and as a mechanism to eliminate role strain, confusion, and rivalry among family members (DeVine, 1980 Reporting of incest remains low, however, reflecting the preeminence of the incest taboo, fear of family disruptions, and fear of societal reactions, as well as guilt of the participants.A variety of theoretical explanations for incest have been advanced. In psychoanalytic theory, the essential feature of psychosexual development is the resolution of th...

MMPI discrimination of incest offenders : a validity study of the IC, SV, and PE subscales

“…The definition of incest offender used in this study was patterned after Dolan (1985), Maynard (1984Maynard ( , 1985, and the Qrego~~e_yiseq St<!_tute~ (1985). (1978,1982).…”

“…In a recent study, Dolan (1985) examined the hypothesis that "one salient, unique item scale can be empirically constructed on the basis of objective psychometric data, as provided by the MMPI" (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory), "that typifies the incest offender" (p. 13). Dolan found eleven MMPI items to be critical in discriminating male incest offenders from nonoffenders and designated this set of items as the Ic experimental subscale.…”

“…O'Hare and Taylor (1983) defined incest "as any act with sexual overtones perpetrated by a needed and/or trusted adult, whom a child is unable to refuse because of age, lack of knowledge, or the context of the relationship" (p. 215). Similarly, Dolan (1985) defined incest (based on Anderson and Shafer, 1979) as "the sexual mistreatment of a child by the father, by a close male family member, or by a male assuming the parent role (stepfather, mother's boyfriend, etc.) and encompasses all forms of sexual behavior from fondling to intercourse" (p. 12).…”

“…The MMPI has been used by numerous researchers to assess a wide variety of personalities (Dahlstrom & Welsh, 1960). Dolan (1985) reviewed previous MMPI assessment of sex offender populations, particularly the assessment of incest offenders.…”

“…In contrast to the Sy and Pe scales, Dolan (1985) noted that the Ic subscale was derived from a more In designing the present cross-validation study, several factors were considered. First, Dolan (1985) derived the Ic subscale using only the responses of male incest offenders and male nonoffender college students. (Levison, Gerstein, & Maloff, 1983).…”