Original articleCoping style and distress in newly incarcerated male adolescents
Section snippets
Methods
Participants were recruited over a two-month period by approaches made to all prisoners received by two medium-secure young offender institutions in England. Approaches were made individually by the recruiter (C.I.) in a private office. A Rota system was used whereby one visit per fortnight was made to each prison, ensuring that no prisoner was approached more than 14 days after incarceration. Participants completed measures of coping style and well-being at T1 and six weeks later at Time 2
Results
Independent samples t-tests were used to identify univariate T1 differences between prisoners who completed follow-up and those who dropped out. There were no differences for age, length of time in spent in prison before completing the T1 questionnaire, previous prison experience, coping styles, anxiety or depression. There was a greater proportion of remand prisoners in the dropout population (58.4% vs. 44.4%, χ2 (1) = 24.53, p < .01), reflecting their greater likelihood of transfer or
Discussion
We investigated relationships between coping style and well-being in a sample of adolescent prisoners. Consistent with studies on adult prisoners [5], significant decreases in both anxiety and depression were observed during the six weeks following incarceration. T1 detachment was positively and emotion coping inversely related to subsequent depression reduction. These findings are important because our prospective design, controlling T1 depression, allows firmer causal conclusions about the
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A longitudinal study of adaption to prison after initial incarceration
2019, Psychiatry ResearchCitation Excerpt :A study by Zamble and Porporino (1988) reported that prisoners' most often used coping strategy was reactive problem-oriented behaviour, namely dealing immediately with a problem in the hope of a solution, but without being organized or planned. Numerous studies have confirmed the priority of rational coping compared to emotional or avoiding strategies among samples of young adult male prisoners (e.g., Ireland et al., 2006; Xuereb et al., 2009; Pelissier and Jones, 2006; Mohino et al., 2004; Brown and Ireland, 2006). In another study, Ireland et al. (2006) studied coping in prison, and found that maladaptive coping mediated the relationship between maladaptive personality and psychological distress.
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