Defining the Personality Characteristics of Delinquent Adolescent Recividists

This study was done to provide basic empirical data on the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory with the focus on establishing a personality profile for recidivistic juvenile offenders. The subjects of this study consisted of four groups of male and female adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 years. The control group (n = 50) consisted of adolescents not adjudicated either delinquent or dependent. The dependent group (n = 50) consisted of adolescents not adjudicated delinquent and fitting the diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder. The delinquent group (n = 50) consisted of adolescents that were diagnosed as conduct disordered and adjudicated delinquent with no felony convictions but with two adjudications. The last group, the recidivist offenders (n = 50) consisted of adolescents diagnosed as conduct disordered. These adolescents were also adjudicated delinquent with at least two felony convictions but no less than three arrests. Nine scales of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) that research had shown to be the common characteristics prevalent in delinquents were used in this study. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference between the nine scale scores selected from the MACI between the recidivist group who were expected to score higher on all nine scales than the other groups. The results however showed that the control group scored significantly higher on the following scales of the MACI: unruly, forceful, oppositional, social insensitivity, family disorder and impulse propensity than the other three groups. The results give rise to questions regarding the implications for treatment of all adolescents involved in the court system. It also brings into question the usefulness of clinical data when subjects try to appear more benign or delinquent for self-serving reasons