{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,9]],"date-time":"2026-01-09T21:33:45Z","timestamp":1767994425508,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":65,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,18]],"date-time":"2021-03-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1616025600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004515","name":"Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["GP-2020-K021070"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GP-2020-K021070"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004515","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004595","name":"Universiti Sains Malaysia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["304\/PPSK\/61312121"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["304\/PPSK\/61312121"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The escalating trend of murder victim concealment worldwide appears worrying, and literature does not reveal any specific study focusing on victim concealment amongst convicted male Malaysian murderers. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the psychological traits that may underlie the act of murder concealment in Malaysia via mixed method approaches. Male murderers (n = 71) from 11 prisons were selected via purposive sampling technique. In the quantitative analysis, a cross-sectional study design using the validated questionnaire was used. The questionnaire contained murder concealment variables and four Malay validated psychometric instruments measuring: personality traits, self-control, aggression, and cognitive distortion. The independent sample t-tests revealed the significantly higher level of anger in murderers who did not commit concealment acts (8.55 \u00b1 2.85, p &lt; 0.05) when compared with those who did so (6.40 \u00b1 2.64). Meanwhile, the Kruskal\u2013Wallis H test revealed that anger and the personality trait of aggressiveness-hostility significantly varied across the different groups of murder concealment acts (p &lt; 0.05). The qualitative data obtained via the in-depth interviews revealed two important themes for the murderers to commit murder concealment acts: (1) fear of discovery and punishment and (2) blaming others. These findings discussed from the perspectives of the murderers within the context of criminology and psychology may provide the first ever insight into the murder concealment acts in Malaysia that can benefit the relevant authorities for crime prevention and investigation efforts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18063113","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,18]],"date-time":"2021-03-18T02:42:05Z","timestamp":1616035325000},"page":"3113","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["The Psychology of Murder Concealment Acts"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3431-8960","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammad Rahim","family":"Kamaluddin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Research in Psychology and Human Well-Being, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0865-5461","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Naji Arafat","family":"Mahat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6047-5636","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Geshina Ayu","family":"Mat Saat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Forensic Science Programme, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian 16150, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6649-9209","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Azizah","family":"Othman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian 16150, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ian Lloyd","family":"Anthony","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Forensic Psychiatry Unit, Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Ipoh 30000, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sowmya","family":"Kumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Criminology Department, Karunya University, Coimbatore 641114, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Suzaily","family":"Wahab","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychiatry Department, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysian Medical Centre, Cheras 56000, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Saravanan","family":"Meyappan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kuala Lumpur Magistrates Court (Criminal Division), Kuala Lumpur 50480, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Balan","family":"Rathakrishnan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychology and Education, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4029-8123","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fauziah","family":"Ibrahim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Research in Psychology and Human Well-Being, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2019, March 19). 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