Replicated personality disorder clusters among mentally disordered offenders and their relation to dimensions of personality

Cluster analysis of personality profiles of mentally disordered offenders on the SHAPS (Special Hospitals Assessment of Personality and Socialisation) replicated clusters of primary psychopath, secondary psychopath, controlled, and inhibited personalities found in previous research. These groups produced distinctive profiles on the personality disorder scales of the MCMI (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory), Independent clustering of MCMI profiles yielded five clusters, four of which correspond to the SHAPS groups. Replication of these four profile types reflects the influence of neuroticism and extraversion, which pervade both inventories, but canonical analysis indicated that the shared dimensions did not align with these factors, The common dimensions discriminating the personality disorder clusters were mainly social withdrawal or maladjusted introversion, impulsivity or maladjusted extraversion, and dependency.