Date of Award
2006
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Over the past few decades, methods used to predict recidivism among the criminal population have improved substantially. Recent research has further identified some specific factors such as psychopathy (e.g. a lack of guilt, egocentricity, and superficial charm) and social interest (e.g. a willingness to accept the responsibility for one's actions, compassion toward others, and contributing to the common welfare) as predictors of recidivism and suggests that these constructs may be useful in predicting prison adjustment as well. The goal of this study was to assess the usefulness of specific measures of psychopathy and social interest in the prediction of prison adjustment. Prison adjustment was defined as both the total number of infractions incurred by an offender and as a number calculated by considering the total number and seriousness of each disciplinary infraction incurred by an offender. Participants included 91 male offenders from the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. The offenders were administered two personality measures, the Sulliman Scale of Social Interest (SSSI) and the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Short Form (PPI-SF). Results revealed that scores on the SSSI were negatively correlated with disciplinary infractions, while scores on the PPI-SF were positively correlated disciplinary infractions. The results also revealed that both the PPI-SF and SSSI added a significant amount of predictive utility to demographic variables previously established as predictors of prison adjustment.
Recommended Citation
Noble, Ashley Harrison, "The Relationship Of Psychopathy And Social Interest To Prison Adjustment" (2006). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1102.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/1102