Executive Function and Personality in Adolescent and Adult Offenders vs. Non-Offenders

Abstract

Abstract A comparison of young offenders, adult offenders and their respective reference groups was completed with a battery of psychometric tests to assess executive functioning and personality. Ancillary cognitive testing was performed to ascertain a baseline of functioning. These scores were included in statistical procedures to determine their significance in the presence of other variables. Four stepwise linear discriminant function analyses were run to differentiate the groups. Significant differences were found in executive functioning and personality, as offender groups demonstrated lower executive capacity andmaladaptive personality characteristics. More specifically, offender groups were significantly impaired in the domain of social competency, judgement, foresight and perspective taking while demonstrating higher levels of impulsivity, immaturity and aggression. Key Words: Offendersexecutive functioningpersonalitycognitionsocial competency