Due to the quantitative nature of the study, it became important to capture the data in a manner that would allow for statistical coding in order to transfer the data into a statistical programme for analysis. Two questionnaires were used, namely the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (Adult Form) and a Self-Concept and Multivariate Questionnaire.
5.2.1 Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (Adult Form)
As it was mentioned in Chapter 2, although Rogers did not specifically mention the term
“self-esteem”, he did provide an explanation of the development of the evaluative process of the self and the sources of the evaluative criteria individuals use to determine their level of positive regard by others. It was this insight into the causal and developmental aspects of the self that laid the theoretical foundation for the development of the first Coopersmith Self- Esteem Inventory by Stanley Coopersmith in 1967.
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Eight years later in 1975, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (Adult Form) (SEI-AF) was developed as an adaptation of Coopersmith’s second version known as the School Short Form. The SEI-AF consists of 25 short statement items that were adapted from the School Short Form to be more relevant to individuals less bound to parents and school. Participants are required to read each item and rate it as either “like me” or “unlike me” (see Appendix 1).
It is important to note that during administration, caution needs to be exercised as not to influence the participants’ responses by making any of the statements seem inherently positive or negative (Coopersmith, 2002:7). A preliminary total is then obtained by adding all the positively answered items together for a score out of 25. Therefore, one point would be awarded for each positive statement item that the participant rated as “like me” and negative items would be scored in reverse resulting in a point allocation for negative statement items rated as “unlike me”. The Total Self Score is then obtained by multiplying the score out of 25 by four in order to get a maximum possible score out of 100 (Coopersmith, 2002:8).
The SEI-AF measures the individuals self-evaluations in four domains namely, general self, academic, social and home related factors. The adult adaptation of the inventory was developed for use by individuals aged 16 and above and has been found to be suitable for use by both males and females of all ethnic groups in the United States (Coopersmith, 2002:20- 22). After the adult form was developed using a sample of 647 high school and college students, further assessments were performed to establish reliability, validity and normative scores.
The SEI-AF was administered to 226 college and university students and the results produced for the various subgroups (gender, ethnicity, age) showed high reliability with Cronbach Alpha’s ranging from .78 to .85 (Coopersmith, 2002:22). In terms of validity the school forms of the SEI have shown high validity in all aspects of self-esteem assessment. In two separate studies with a combined total of 15200 participants it was concluded that the SEI has high construct validity as a measure of factors related to global self-esteem and that it is widely applicable to other populations (Coopersmith, 2002:13). Furthermore, Blascovich and Tomaka (1991:121) make mention of research conducted indicating that the Coopersmith SEI-AF has also been found to correlate strongly with other popular self-esteem assessments such as the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (.55), the Janis-Field FIS (.72) and the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (.77). The adult form has also been shown to have a .80 correlation of total scores with the short form and thus with this point in mind as well as the stable nature of
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self-esteem throughout the lifetime similar validity can be assumed (Coopersmith, 2002:2).
High, medium and low self-esteem is also said to vary and it is therefore recommended to consider scores in the upper and lower quartiles as high and low self-esteem respectively and those that fall within the interquartile range to be indicative of average or medium self-esteem (Coopersmith, 2002:8).
As there is no available normative data for non-offending South African samples for the CSEI-AF, comparisons will be made from the normative data of the relevant subgroups identified in the CSEI-AF manual:
Table 1
Normative scores and reliabilities for selected subgroups of the CSEI-AF research
Subgroup N Mean SD Cronbach Alpha
Males 114 68.4 18.5 .79
Black 24 71.2 18.4 .79
Ages 20-34 148 71.7 18.8 .81
(Coopersmith, 2002:22)
Table 1 indicates the normative scores for the CSEI-AF found in the assessment manual. Of the 226 total participants, 114 were male with mean self-esteem scores of 68.4 and a standard deviation of 18.5. Black participants made up 10.6% of the total sample and scored marginally higher than the male only subgroup with a mean self-esteem score of 71.2 and 18.4 standard deviations. The last subgroup relevant to the current study consists of participants who fell between the ages of 20 and 34 years of age. The mean self-esteem score for this subgroup is 71.7 with 18.8 standard deviations. The Cronbach alpha column indicates that the CSEI-AF can be considered a reliable test of self-esteem for all three subgroups with scores ranging between .79 and .81. A generally accepted Cronbach alpha is said to be between .7 and .8, however for assessments dealing with psychological constructs, a value below .7 is said to be expected due to the diverse nature of the constructs (Field, 2009:675).
The CSEI-AF results for the current study can be seen in Table 2 below:
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Average CSEI-AF scores for repeat offender research participants
Variable N Minimum Maximum Mean SD Cronbach Alpha
CSEI-AF Score 73 28 88 61.37 15.78 .69
It was established that individuals who participated in the current study had an average self- esteem score of 61.37 with a standard deviation of 15.78. The highest self-esteem score of the 73 repeat offenders was 88 and the lowest score was 28. The mean score for the reoffending sample is lower than the data for the normative subgroups presented in Table 1. It was furthermore established that for the repeat offender sample, the CSEI-AF produced a Cronbach alpha of .69 indicating an acceptable level of reliability and signifying that the test can be accurately utilised within the local South African context.
5.2.2 Self-Concept and Multivariate Questionnaire
In order to fulfil the remaining aims of the study, further information about the participants’
offences as well as information relating to demographic, psychosocial and correctional variables was required. Using the information gathered from the theoretical perspectives and the literature on self-esteem and reoffending behaviour, the Self-Concept and Multivariate Questionnaire (Appendix 2) was developed to quantitatively assess the relationship between self-esteem and the required factors. This questionnaire consists of five sections and will allow the various factors to be quantitatively analysed and recorded. The five sections are outlined below:
A. General Information
This section consists of questions related to general demographic aspects of the participants and will be used predominantly for the sake of providing a sample description. Eight questions are utilised to gain information about age, gender, ethnicity, education, family composition, culture and related factors.
87 B. Childhood Information
The importance of family related variables has been repeatedly expressed as a vital factor in Rogers’ theory. Therefore, this section aims to gain information regarding the participants’
upbringing and childhood family circumstances. Caregiver information, familial and peer relationship information, socioeconomic information and information regarding the participants’ perceptions of childhood victimisation were gathered amongst other information through the formulation of twelve questions.
C. Offence Information
Eight questions were formulated to assess the nature of the participants’ current and previous offences, time related factors of incarceration as well as perceptions of community treatment after being exposed to the correctional environment. Thus factors related to participants’
offences along with the community perceptions of those offences were assessed from the perspective of the participants.
D. Programme Participation
Programme participation was a factor established to be strongly related to level of self-esteem in the literature and highly influenced by the popular perspective of a relationship between low self-esteem and offending behaviour. It is therefore important to establish which programmes participants had participated in. Two questions were asked with multiple answers allowed regarding participation in the programmes provided by Phoenix Zululand and an open ended question regarding any other form of programme participation.
E.Prison Experience
In closing, seven questions were presented regarding the participants’ experiences within the correctional centres. Questions about both direct and vicarious victimisation were put forward as well as those related to opinions of the correctional environment and indirect involvement in prison gangsterism. A question regarding prison visitations was also presented as an indicator of level of ties participants still held with general society.
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