Social Support and Psychological Distress in a Group of Incarcerated Young Offenders

Using Power, Champion, and Aris's Significant Others Scale, the present study examined the function and structure of social support in a group of incarcerated young offenders. Support across nine key relationships from both outside and inside the prison were examined. The study aimed to examine...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology 1997-09, Vol.41 (3), p.213-230
Main Authors: Biggam, Fiona H., Power, Kevin G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coping
Criminology
Factors
Imprisonment
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile Offenders
Mental stress
Offenders
Prisoners
Psychological Distress
Psychology
Scotland
Significant Others
Social Networks
Social Support
Young adults
Young offenders
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Using Power, Champion, and Aris's Significant Others Scale, the present study examined the function and structure of social support in a group of incarcerated young offenders. Support across nine key relationships from both outside and inside the prison were examined. The study aimed to examine social support as a key variable in coping with incarceration. Furthermore, the study examined the role that social support plays in the experience of self-reported psychological distress (anxiety, depression, and hopelessness) while incarcerated The importance of prison relationships-with a close friend and members of prison staff in the experience of psychological distress-was highlighted, where distressed inmates were more likely to report discrepancies in the actual/ideal levels of both emotional and practical support. Regression analyses highlighted the importance of relationships with the staff as predictors of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness.
ISSN:0306-624X
1552-6933
DOI:10.1177/0306624X97413002