Psicopatia e saúde mental: estudo comparativo entre reclusos que cometeram crimes violentos e não violentos

Abstract

Background: The comparison between crime and indicators of psychopathy and mental health has been a phenomenon that has not met with consensus, although crime (especially violent crime) is often interrelated with higher levels of psychopathy and mental health problems. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare violent and non-violent offenders with regards to mental health indicators and level of psychopathy, taking gender into consideration. Method: The sociodemographic and criminal questionnaire, the Self-Report Psychopathy test - SRP, and the Mental Health Continuum Scale - MHC-SF were used as measures. A total of 322 questionnaires were applied to inmates, 168 male and 131 female, aged between 21 and 75, of whom 223 had committed non-violent crimes and 80 violent crimes. In order to meet the objectives, two MANOVAs (Multivariate Analysis of Variance) were carried out. Results: The results obtained indicate that the type of crime committed (violent or non-violent) does not have a significant effect on the psychopathy and mental health indicators, and this conclusion is independent of the gender of the individuals. Similarly, the gender of the individuals does not have a significant effect on the psychopathy and mental health indicators of the inmates, and this conclusion is independent of the type of crime committed. Discussion: Participants in this sample tended to report better social functioning (social well-being) than individual functioning (psychological well-being) and lower positive feelings (emotional well-being) when compared to participants in the validation study. Also, levels of psychopathy are not significantly related to gender, nor to the type of crime, in other words, the type of crime is independent of the gender of the individuals and vice versa. Keywords: Psychopathy, Mental Health, Criminality, Inmates

Date of Award	2022
Original language	Portuguese
Supervisor	Ana Rita Conde Dias (Supervisor) & Cláudia Noémia Soares de Sousa (Supervisor)