Personality patterns of white, black, and Mexican‐American patrolmen as measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire

Abstract

The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire was administered to 461 Los Angeles patrolmen to abtain a normative police profile. Multivariate analysis revealed that the average patrolman appeared brighter, more reserved, dominant, and tough-minded (p less than .001) than the average male. Comparisons were made for 29 black, 33 Mexican-American, and 399 white officers. Mexican-American officers emerged as more conservative and relaxed than whites, while black officers appeared more experimental, analytical, and group-oriented. A comparison with an idependent police sample revealed common traits of self-assurance and conservatism. Results were compared with a social workers' profile and discussed in relation to police officers' actual job activities and community needs.

Predicting turnover of police officers using the sixteen personality factor questionnaire

“…Given the lack of existing empirical research on the personality-turnover relationship, the most prudent approach to personality characteristic selection would be an inclusive rather than exclusive approach. As tough-mindedness, or openness to experience, is a distinctive police officer characteristic compared to non-police populations (Snibbe, Fabricatore, & Azen, 1975;Topp & Kardash, 1986) and has shown to predict superior police officer performance (Barrett, Miguel, Hurd, Lueke, & Tan, 2003;Fabricatore, Azen, Schoentgen, & Snibbe, 1978), this was also included in the study.…”

Do tinted spectacle lens wearers have a different personality?

“…The 16PF was designed to give a broad measure of personality that would be useful to practitioners in a wide range of settings such as selection for employment, counselling and clinical decisionmaking. The 16PF5 was chosen because: it came recommended by a colleague with a psychology background (Green M. Personal communication, 2002); it is relatively quick to complete (between 30 and 50 minutes); it is acknowledged to be a highly reliable and valid test for defining personality type (Conn and Rieke, 1994) and has been widely used (Russell and Karol, 1994) for evaluations such has personality differences between American patrolmen from different ethnic backgrounds, (Snibb et al 1975) agoraphobic and non-agoraphobic families, (Mlott and Vale, 1986) and the use of different types of cognitive strategy (Kerr and Brown, 1988). The 16PF questionnaire consists of 185 multiple choice questions with a choice of one from three possible answers.…”

“…comm. ); it is relatively quick to complete (between 30 and 50 min); it is acknowledged to be a highly reliable and valid test for defining personality type (Conn and Rieke, 1994) and has been widely used (Russell and Karol, 1994) for evaluations such as personality differences between American patrolmen from different ethnic backgrounds (Snibb et al. , 1975), agoraphobic and non‐agoraphobic families (Mlott and Vale, 1986) and the use of different types of cognitive strategy (Kerr and Brown, 1988).…”