Relationship between demographic characteristics and type of crime with psychopathic personality disorder in male prisoners in Mahabad

Psychopathy is a personality disorder with a long history. Various variables are associated with this disorder. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between demographic characteristics and type of crime with psychopathic personality disorder in male prisoners in Mahabad.

The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive correlational type. From the community of male prisoners in Mahabad which were 391 people, simple of prisoners were selected through number whole sampling, and finally 384 people were examined as the final sample. Psychopathy was assessed using the Levinson Psychopathy Questionnaire and demographic characteristics and type of crime through a profile checklist. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey post hoc test, Student's t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient using SPSS23.

There was a positive and significant relationship between age and number of children with factor 2 psychopathy (P <0.05). The rate of psychopathy was higher in prisoners with a history of drug and alcohol addiction, inmates with the crime of robbery (factor 2), inmates with a bachelor's degree, inmates with a second history of arrest (P <0.01) and inmates with a prison sentence of 4-5 years (Factor 1 and total score) (P <0.01). The rate of psychopathy varied according to the level of income (P <0.01). There was no significant relationship between other variables and psychopathy.

Understanding psychopathy based on demographic characteristics enhances our knowledge of this personality disorder and can be invaluable to those who deal with it in prisons.