Prediction of criminal behavior in young Swedish women using a group administration of the Hand Test.

2,074 Swedish girls and adolescents were administered a group version of the Hand Test. About ten years later, 80 of these subjects had committed crimes serious enough to be entered on the General Police Register. These young women offenders were then matched by age with nonoffenders and the two groups compared on 17 quantitative Hand Test variables. Significance was found for the Tension and Pathology scores, suggesting that these young female lawbreakers were characterized as youngsters having scores indicating anxiety and other forms of psychopathology rather than innate hostility.