7.1 Conclusions Pertaining to the Fulfilment of the Aims of the Study
7.1.3 The Multivariate Analysis of Self-Esteem in Relation
The third and final aim of the study required a multivariate analysis of self-esteem in relation to demographic, psychosocial and correctional variables. The demographic variables which included chronological age groups, level of education, socioeconomic status of family, number of children, marital status and childhood family composition, all produced non- significant results in terms of self-esteem. The explanation behind many of these results could be attributed to one of the tenants of the theoretical perspective of Rogers (1951:498) that emphasises the importance of the role of societal perceptions of what is deemed attractive in terms of behaviour and the norms and values derived from these collective views. In other words, the norms and values of society could mediate appropriate behaviour.
The level of education achieved was found to have no significant effect on level of self- esteem. The explanation provided by Harris (2009:13) emphasises the importance of perceptions related to the achievement of high levels of education in different societies or communities. The rural nature of the surrounding communities may influence a decrease in importance of the achievement of high levels of formal education due to a lack of resources and comparatively substandard levels of education and a possible increase in the importance for informal education that is focused on sustainable familial support. The results for the relationship between self-esteem and marital status as well as number of children (see hypothesis 5) refer to a similar explanation detailing the role of societal perceptions in terms of cultural norms and values. The negative effects of apartheid on the family structure are
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also mentioned as a possible influencing factor that may have led to a breakdown of the traditional African family unit, thereby alienating the importance of the maintenance of cultural perspectives related to marriage and children (Bruce, 2006:35).
The effect of age on self-esteem is said to stabilise in adulthood (Block & Robins, 1993:919;
Leary, 1999:33) and due to the adult nature of the repeat offending sample, it was found that self-esteem did not differ significantly between different generational groups. Age is also identified in the literature to play a role in the effect of socioeconomic status on self-esteem (Rosenberg & Pearlin, 1978:57). The comparative nature of self-evaluation as purported by Rogers (1951) is said to become more influential as individuals age and become exposed to more diverse groups of people in the working and social environment.
Lastly, the findings related to the demographic variable of childhood family composition did not support theoretical perspectives as it was found that participants who came from structurally impaired homes did not have significantly different levels of self-esteem than participants who came from structurally intact homes. A possible explanation could refer to the collective nature of many African families whereby members of the extended family are often found to contribute to the raising of children thus minimising many of the negative effects of absent parental figures (Posel et al., 2004:1; Schatz & Ogunmefun, 2007:1391).
Data regarding the level of closeness with parental figures corroborated this finding as it was established that there was no significant difference between the self-esteem scores for participants who felt “very close”, “close” and “not close” to both their mother and father figures. Although this finding did not provide support for the theoretical perspectives that associated high self-esteem with an increase in parental closeness, the nature of the repeat offenders life experiences did provide an alternate reasoning. The nature of the sample consisting of individuals who had transgressed the law on multiple occasions during their lifetimes and also spent extended periods of time within a correctional centre/s would provide support for Hirschi’s perspective which would indicate a possible deterioration of social and familial bonds leading to a rejection of conventional norms and values and an increased propensity for criminal behaviour (Williams & McShane, 2010:155). Descriptive results indicated that a higher percentage of participants felt very close to their mother figures than their father figures. This could be due to the high level of paternal absence common in rural African households due to an increased amount of migrant labour requiring the father figures
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to leave their homes for extended periods of time to fulfil employment commitments and provide for their families financially (Montgomery et al., 2006:2412; Posel et al., 2004:1).
Other psychosocial variables closely related to Rogers’ (1951) core perspectives include the need for acceptance by significant others and perceptions of community treatment. The results for both of these factors could be explained using Rogers’ theoretical underpinnings (1951) although there was a degree of differentiation with the literature.
It was proposed that participants who associated with significant others who had been in trouble with the law would not be deviating too far from the models of acceptable behaviour experienced growing up and would therefore maintain a high level of self-esteem despite their status as repeat offenders. Participants with a high need for acceptance from family and peers who had been in trouble with the law were found to have lower levels of self-esteem than those who did not have family or peers in trouble with the law. Although the only significant difference was in relation to friends who were in trouble with the law, this may have indicated that despite being repeat offenders, participants still placed high importance on the norms and values of conventional society. Therefore the perspectives of deviant behaviour being related to unstable or false high self-esteem (Baumeister et al., 1996:8;
Bruce, 2006:34; Salmivalli, 2001:390) may be elaborated on through the inclusion of Cloward and Ohlins’ differential opportunity theory which would state that repeat offenders who also hold deviant associations may therefore not entirely replace the beliefs of conventional society with opposing beliefs of a subculture but rather mask the failure to succeed within the socially accepted framework with a display of total deviance.
The role of personal perception of experiences was again prevalent in the explanation of findings related to community treatment. Results indicated that participants who perceived their communities to be supportive and felt that they were fairly treated upon release had higher levels of self-esteem. The findings for fairness of treatment were highly significant whereas those related to community support approached significance but were slightly above the required .05 alpha level. The relation between self-esteem and community treatment supported the theoretical perspectives despite the continued involvement in crime. It can therefore be concluded that additional factors had to be present in the motivation for offending behaviour and that an increased self-esteem and perceptions of community support are not the exclusive factors to adequately explain the complexities of the manifestation of
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criminal behaviour. Therefore, more research is required focusing on the interplay between different psychosocial and demographic variables within the South African context.
The experience of abuse and victimisation was also found to have a negative impact of self- esteem although significance was established to vary with context and time related factors.
Self-esteem scores of participants who were abused prior to incarceration were found to be lower than those who were not abused before incarceration. The difference was however not statistically significant. Type of abuse was also assessed and found that no difference existed between participants who experienced familial abuse, any other forms of victimisation and those who felt they had not been victimised. Victimisation in the correctional setting showed similar results as participants who had directly experienced victimisation were found to have lower levels of self-esteem. Although this finding was also not significant it did come close to the .05 alpha level with a p-value of .061. The only significant finding related to victimisation was therefore between participants who had witnessed violence within the correctional centre and those who had not. It was established that participants who had vicariously experienced violence within the correctional centre had significantly lower levels of self-esteem than those who had not. It can therefore be concluded that experiences of abuse were more likely to have an effect on the propensity for deviant behaviour rather than level of self-esteem due to a possible overreliance on psychological defence mechanisms that may create a distorted sense of reality thus minimising perceptions of responsibility for behaviour (Rogers, 1951:500; Wade, 2009:175). The increased significance related to experiences of victimisation within the correctional environment emphasises the role of time related factors and context. The participants who had experienced victimisation during incarceration were still in the same environment where the victimisation occurred. This, coupled with the closed nature of correctional centres could thus exacerbate the effects of these experiences. The constant fear of victimisation may significantly increase anxiety levels and could give rise to numerous other psychological illnesses such as depression, substance abuse or suicide (Kort- Butler, 2010:497).
Other correctional variables that produced indicative of relationships with self-esteem included exposure to the correctional environment, visitations and satisfaction with conditions. Exposure was assessed by number of previous sentences and length of time spent in corrections at the time of assessment. It was established that the number of previous sentences did not significantly affect self-esteem scores but that the time spent incarcerated
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did. Length of time spent in the correctional facility was positively correlated with level of self-esteem. This provided support for the views of Greve and Enzman (2003) and Greve et al. (2001) emphasising the role of coping mechanisms such as accommodation and immunisation that are related to familiarity with the conditions and expectations of the environment and the ability to justify and neutralise any negative associations stemming from incarceration.
The maintenance of familial bonds whilst incarcerated as indicated by the frequency of visitations in the correctional centre also showed an increase in self-esteem. This again provided support for Rogers’ (1951) perspective emphasising the importance of familial bonds as well as the certainty thereof. The difference in scores between participants who felt they received visits frequently and those who felt that they only received visits “sometimes”
indicated that the perception of certainty of familial and community support had an impact on its relation to self-esteem.
Perception was again utilised in the explanation of the relationship between self-esteem and satisfaction with prison conditions. It was established that participants who were satisfied with the conditions in the correctional centre had significantly higher levels of self-esteem than those who were not. Therefore although the conditions for most of the participants were the same, it was the perception and degree of internalisation of the substandard and negative aspects of the environment that had a negative effect on self-perception (Cervone & Pervin, 2008:168; Peacock, 2006:60; Rogers, 1951:492).
The final correctional variable that was assessed in terms of self-esteem was participation in treatment programmes. Numerous studies have indicated the positive relationship between programme participation and self-esteem (Dissel, 2008:157; Fisher et al., 1998:7; Oser, 2006:346; Webster et al., 2007:214). The results from this study also found a positive relationship, however it was not statistically significant. The explanation for this finding can be as a result of the substandard conditions in a number of South African correctional facilities. The lack of basic accommodation, nutritional and healthcare provisions exacerbated by the problem of overcrowding and general lack of regard from correctional staff are not conducive to the successful realisation of treatment aims which attempt to promote self-value and teach appropriate cognitive behavioural reactions to stressful situations (Dissel, 2008:162; Van Zyl Smit, 2004:229). These results also highlights that the relationship
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between self-esteem and offending behaviour is not as linear as is commonly thought and that not all offenders have a low self-esteem that requires improvement. Adequate screening and assessment of inmates upon entrance into the correctional facilities is therefore essential to determine appropriate, empirically based treatment options to increase the effectiveness of rehabilitative efforts and thereby decrease the prevalence of repeated offending behaviour.
The investigation of demographic, psychosocial and correctional variables in relation to self- esteem and repeated offending behaviour have allowed for the fulfilment of the third and final aim of the study.