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F+4+9+Cn: An MMPI Measure of Aggression in Law Enforcement Officers and Applicants

NCJ Number
123798
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1988) Pages: 268-273
Author(s)
G E Hargrave; D Hiatt; T W Gaffney
Date Published
1988
Length
6 pages
Annotation
An analysis of the effectiveness of a psychological measure for predicting excessive aggressiveness in police officers found the measure to show promise for this use.
Abstract
The index added a scale for control (Cn) to the F+4+9 index developed by Huesman and others from the MMPI to measure aggression. The analysis used two samples. The first sample consisted of 104 applicants for State traffic officers. Fifty-two applicants who reported being in two or more physical fights off the job within 2 years before applying were matched with 52 controls who had not been in fights and who were similar on demographic factors and military service. The second sample consisted of 12 officers from 2 municipal law enforcement agencies who had been identified by administrators as having had significant incidents of physical assaultiveness that had resulted in disciplinary action. These officers were matched with 12 nonaggressive controls. The participants were compared with respect to their MMPI results with and without the Cn score. Findings showed that adding the Cn scale to the F+4+9 index significantly improved the identification of highly aggressive applicants and officers. Research recommendations, table, and 17 references.