Karolinska Scales of Personality in a forensic psychiatric population: Stability over time and between situations

Abstract

Assessment of personality traits by means of the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) was made in connection with a forensic psychiatric investigation and at follow-up after 2 years. For some subjects, major life events had occurred between the assessments - in some cases positive events such as marriage, having children, starting regular studies or employment, or receiving psychotherapeutic treatment. In many cases. however, the events or circumstances during the 2-year interval were negative, such as relapse in criminality, incarceration in prison for the whole period between the ratings, or development of a schizophrenic disorder. Moreover, the second assessments were performed in various settings. No significant differences between the two ratings were found in the traits Impulsiveness, Monotony avoidance, or Socialization. Measures of Indirect and Verbal aggression and Irritability also remained stable, as did measures of Guilt and Social desirability. Thus. KSP personality traits related to psychopathy and aggressiveness proved to be stable over time independent of life events. Moderate to high correlations between scores obtained on the two occasions were found for most scales. However, scores of all anxiety-related scales were lower at the second assessments, as in other disordered populations.