Citation

Crookes TG. Br. J. Criminol. 1979; 19(1): 60-66.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1979, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

EPI scores of 60 young people (30M, 30F), newly admitted to a psychiatric hospital because of behaviour disorders, were compared with those of 60 controls. The "impulsive" and "sociable" parts of the extraversion scores were examined separately. The patients were higher than the controls on neuroticism but the mean scores on extraversion and its components did not differ. However, on extraversion and sociability the patients had a significantly greater variance than the controls. Analysis of the types of behaviour disorder showed that "dysthymic" and "psychopathic" behaviours occurred in people at both extremes of the extraversion and sociability scales. It was suggested that either extreme of extraversion (sociability) combined with high neuroticism predisposes to behavioural aberration but does not determine its quality.