MMPI differences among adolescent inpatients, rapists, sodomists, and sexual abusers

This study examined Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) responding among 61 adolescent sex offenders accused of Sexual Abuse (n = 22), Rape (n = 19), and Sodomy (n = 18) and 15 adolescents without a history of sexual offending admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit. Results indicated significant differences between sex offenders and inpatients as well as among sex offender groups on both single-scale elevations and 2-point code types. Contrary to previous research, adolescents in the sex offender groups demonstrated significantly more psychopathology than those in the inpatient sample. Subjects in the Sodomy group achieved the highest clinical scale elevations and were more likely to have scales associated with significant psychopathology as one of their 2-point pairs. In general, increased psychopathology was associated with increased sexual deviancy. That is, subjects in the sexual offender groups evidenced more psychopathology than inpatients and the more deviant Sodomy and Rape groups evidenced more psychological disturbance on the MMPI than Sexual Abuser subjects. Results indicate that the MMPI can be useful in providing both quantitative and qualitative distinctions among adolescent sex offenders.