A Comparison of Mental Disorders in Two Groups of Prisoners Charged with Premeditated Murder and Kidnapping

Abstract

Purpose: The current study aimed to compare mental disorders in two groups of prisoners charged with premeditated murder and kidnapping. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study followed a casual-comparative design. The sample of this study included 60 prisoners charged with premeditated murder and 60 prisoners charged with kidnapping selected using simple random sampling method (sortation). To collect data, the Symptom Check List (SCL-90) was used. Results: Results of multivariate analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant difference between these two groups of prisoners charged with premeditated murder and kidnapping regarding mental disorder symptoms(F = 9.746, Wilks’ Lambda = .556, P = .00) such that prisoners charged with premeditated murder suffered from higher levels of anxiety, paranoid thoughts and psychosis and prisoners charged with kidnapping suffered more from depression, somatic symptoms, obsession, and phobia (P = .01). However, no significant difference was found between prisoners charged with premeditated murder and kidnapping with regard to aggression and interpersonal sensitivity (P = .05). Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that both groups charged with premeditated murder and kidnapping suffer from high means on mental disorder symptoms.