Personality correlates of delinquency rate in a Navy sample

Abstract

A study to determine whether personality scales measuring social maturity and conformity were related to delinquency rate in a group of 92 Navy brig confinees. The Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory and the Conformity scale of the Survey of Interpersonal Values each correlated significantly with a delinquency criterion obtained by correlating the scales against number of offenses committed and partialing out length of service. While the validities obtained for both the Socialization and Conformity scales were in the expected direction, the difference between means for the present delinquent and other nondlinquent groups on the Conformity scale is not in accord with the validity obtained. Differences in mean scores between the present delinquent sample and those presented for high school samples were in the expected direction for the Socialization scale. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)