Personality and self-reported delinquency in young adults.

H. J. Eysench's (1964) personality theory predicts that the high Psychotici sm, Neuroticism and Extraversion personality combination is over-represente d in criminal populations. However, more recent studies have not provided u nanimous support for this theory. The aim of this study is to test the rela tionship between personality assessed by the EPQ and the SSS, and Self-repo rted. Delinquency in young adults of both sexes. The current study used an alternative design consisting of three groups of subjects of similar age wi th different degrees of antisocial behaviour: a normative group of undergra duates, a group of subjects from high schools with a high number of problem students, and a group of imprisoned youngsters. The results show a positiv e relationship between Self-reported Delinquency and Psychoticism. With reg ards to Extraversion, this dimension seems to be better estimated by a trai t measure such as the Sensation Seeking Scale and its subscales. With respe ct to Neuroticism, it shows a positive relationship with Self-reported Deli nquency although it only reached significance among males.