A multivariate criminological analysis of the self-esteem of repeat offenders.

Inferential (t-tests, ANOVA and correlations) and descriptive (means, standard deviations and frequency distributions) statistical analyzes were used to compare the self-esteem scores of the participants and provide a general description of the characteristics of the sample respectively. Demographic variables (age, education, marital status, number of children, and childhood socioeconomic status) were not found to have a significant effect on self-esteem scores.

Introduction

A discussion of the historical perspective of the self will serve as a contextual basis for presenting the formulation of the problem. The rationale for the study will be presented in terms of the specific objectives of the study, followed by a concise outline of the research report.

Conceptualisation

Self-Esteem
Self-Concept
Stability and Change
Criminal Behaviour
Recidivism
Psychosocial

However, the focus of the current study will be the effect of the more consistent and stable trait self-esteem and its relationship with repeated criminal behavior. From a psychosocial perspective, criminal behavior can refer to actions that have not been formally assessed as illegal by any organs of the criminal justice system.

Historical Perspective

Ancient Greece (7 th Century BC to 300 AD)
Middle Ages (1000 to 1500 AD)
Enlightenment and Industrialisation (18 th Century)
The Modern Era (20 th Century)

However, this shift from the metaphysical to the predominantly material focus of the self created a scenario that would require the self to be surrendered back to society. In self-evaluation, this incongruence of the self results in an unstable form of self-esteem (Richardson et al.

Problem Formulation

Theoretical Problem Formulation
Criminological Problem Formulation
Prison Conditions
The White Paper on Corrections
Intervention Measures

Due to the inhumane conditions, it was seen as a reflection of the former governments' racist regard for the predominantly black prison population. However, despite the best intentions of the legislation, the new approach to corrections has not been implemented.

Research Aims

Therefore, while confirming or denying the current general belief, steps can be taken to evaluate the clients of treatment programs and then begin the treatment that is most appropriate for the individual in order to achieve the most effective outcome and make them contributing citizens of their community. upon release. Therefore, it becomes imperative to understand the nature and motives of repeat crime and the factors associated with it in order to deal with it effectively and efficiently for the benefit of the criminal justice system and society as a whole.

Chapter Outline

The purpose of this chapter is to present Rogers' self-concept theory in order to provide a more complex understanding of the self. But first, an explanation of the phenomenological and humanistic nature of Rogers' theoretical approach will be given.

Phenomenology and the Humanist Perspective

The Actualising Tendency of Carl Rogers

Rogers claims that, on a psychological level, it is the perception of the satisfaction of a need rather than the actual satisfaction that is essential in influencing behavior. With the knowledge of the proposed goal of Rogers' theory, it now becomes crucial to consider the personality structure of the individual as well as the development process in which this structure is formed.

Structural Elements of Personality

The physical environment refers to the individual's immediate environment and consists of people, objects and events. This structure exists independently of the individual, but is experienced in a way subjectively interpreted by the individual (Meyer et al.

Development of the Self

Role of Significant Others

The Parent-Child Relationships
Societal and Peer Group Influence

Need for Positive Regard

Unconditional Positive Regard
Conditional Positive Regard

Congruence

The Congruent Self
The Incongruent Self

Defensive Mechanisms

Unconditional positive regard refers to the acceptance of the individual by significant others without the involvement of preconditions. The main tendencies of the concept of inconsistency are somewhat similar to the concept of.

Conclusion

This approach could allow for a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between self-esteem and repeated offending behaviour, which in turn could have practical applications in correctional settings. This will allow for the presentation of empirical support for the different perspectives of the relationship between the level of self-esteem and its effect on offending behaviour.

Factors Related to Recidivism

Demographic Variables
Socioeconomic Variables
Psychosocial Variables
Criminological Variables
Psychological Variables

This unidimensional approach to analyzing the relationship between self-esteem and repeated offending behavior is considered a general shortcoming of self-esteem research. In the next section, we will explore the relationship between self-esteem and offense type.

Self-Esteem and Offence Type

Violent Offences

Bruce (2006:34) also makes a connection between self-esteem and status inequality caused by the large relative disparity between individual status and economic situations. The analysis found that none of the studies could unequivocally identify low self-esteem as a predictor of offending behavior and that most research ignored indicators of high self-esteem.

Sexual Offences

Further comparison with a nonoffending sample showed that 42.7% of the rapist sample and 17.9% of the sexual murderer sample had lower self-esteem than the normative sample. The cross-sectional nature of much of the research has also been identified as an inhibitor to sound conclusions due to the fluctuating nature of self-esteem.

The Effect of Incarceration on Self-Esteem

However, the only significantly different self-esteem scores were those in solitary confinement. It can be seen that familiarity with the prison environment also affects self-confidence.

Family Systems and Structures

Therefore, it is imperative to include information about the nature of offenders' family circumstances, as well as the degree of personal investment these individuals have in the opinions of family and peers when examining possible causes of recidivism behavior. As can be deduced from the previous chapter, the role of the family and peer group as significant others in the development of self-esteem and the socialization process is of paramount importance.

Early Victimisation

Using the United States National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health database, a sample of 10,404 adolescents was included in the study. In view of the family and experiential variables examined, the factors identified by Rogers as critical to the development of the self and the behavioral effects that manifest as a result of this process must be included in the understanding of both self-esteem and offensive behavior.

Treatment and Intervention Programmes

Treatment Methods

Research conducted on Boot Camp programs, aimed as an alternative to formal incarceration in the United States, claims that the military style of detention, which has been around since 1888, aims to provide inmates with discipline and structure. Research that evaluated programs such as 'scared straight' programs in the United States found that this type of program had very little effect on juvenile attitudes and was also not associated with any reduction in recidivism.

Self-Esteem in the Treatment Environment

In addition, research on the individual factors related to self-esteem has also yielded convincing explanations. Sexual recidivism can therefore be linked to the relationship between self-esteem and the individual's response to their behaviour.

Offender Adjustment and Reintegration

Social stigmas surrounding ex-offenders need to be addressed in order to possibly increase the number of opportunities available to ex-offenders in terms of employment and community support (Dissel, 2012:32). Therefore, in addition to treatment programs delivered in correctional facilities, adequate aftercare must be provided if significant reductions in recidivism rates are to be achieved.

Conclusion

One of the correctional variables identified that can have a strong positive relationship with level of self-esteem is the amount of time spent in the correctional facility (Oliver et al Oser, 2006:346). This would therefore make the relationship between education and self-esteem dependent on how it is perceived in the community.

Methodology

In order to test the hypotheses presented in chapter 4 and thereby achieve the objectives of the study, it was essential to choose the appropriate methodological procedures and techniques. This will be followed by a presentation of relevant participant characteristics to provide a description of the overall nature and characteristics of the sample.

Measuring Instruments

Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (Adult Form)

In terms of validity, the ISHM school forms have shown high validity in all aspects of self-esteem assessment. The highest self-esteem score of the 73 repeat offenders was 88 and the lowest was 28.

Self-Concept and Multivariate Questionnaire

Caregiver information, information on family and peer relationships, socio-economic information and information regarding the participants' perceptions of child victimization were collected, among other things, by formulating twelve questions. Eight questions were formulated to assess the nature of the participants' current and past offenses, time-related factors of incarceration as well as perceptions of community treatment after exposure to the correctional environment.

Pilot Study

Data Collection

Sampling Procedure

Description of Sample

The number of siblings of the participants is presented in Table 7, along with the birth order ranking shown in Table 8. However, similar to the current offending results, financial offenses also accounted for 58.9% of the sample's past offences.

Statistical Techniques

Descriptive Statistics

Due to the relatively unique nature of the study within the South African context, statistical evidence of a descriptive nature was required. Descriptive statistics allow all the raw data to be summarized and organized into smaller, simpler groupings that are representative of the actual factors being studied (Gravetter & Wallnau, 2007:6).

Inferential Statistics

T-Test
Analysis of Variance
Correlations
Statistical Significance

In summary, if a significant p-value of less than 0.05 (5%) is found for ANOVA, the researcher can be at least 95% confident that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of two or more variables being tested. When performing correlation analysis, the nature of the data collected would dictate which type of statistical test is most appropriate to use.

Measures to Enhance Reliability and Validity of the Study

The interconnected nature of the theoretical perspective and the assessment instrument would thus contribute to the improvement of construct validity (Blascovich & Tomaka Coopersmith, 2002:6). The pilot study made it possible to test the assessment administration process and the most appropriate translations and interpretations of the assessment tasks.

Ethical Considerations

Conclusion

Self-Esteem and Type of Offence

Descriptive Data

Comparison of mean self-esteem scores between sex offenders and offenders from the remaining offending categories using a t-test. Comparison of mean self-esteem scores between the remaining offending categories and the total retest sample using a t-test.

Serendipitous Findings

In light of the findings of Hypothesis 1, knowledge of past and current transgressions may provide greater understanding of offending behaviors related to self-esteem. Further analysis of the relationship between past and current offending may provide insight into the changing nature of self-esteem and its effect on offending behaviour.

Self-Esteem and Exposure to the Correctional Environment

The sharp decrease in mean self-esteem scores for the 12-18 month and 19-24 month groups may be due to the small size of the groups. This will allow a more precise understanding of the impact of various community-related factors on the development of self-esteem.

Self-Esteem and Level of Education

Hypothesis 3

The increased need for individuals to help support their families and thus find means to generate income early in life may contribute to the perception of education as less important. Therefore, it is recommended that future research include information related to societal perceptions of the importance and need for education in order to more definitively determine the nature of the relationship between educational attainment and self-esteem.

Self-Esteem and Age

Hypothesis 4

It is recommended that future research into the impact of age-related factors on self-esteem is longitudinal in nature, as this will allow any changes due to the aging process to be noted. Specific focus on getting more participants from the "baby boomer" generation should also be considered to make more precise comparisons regarding the possible effects of apartheid on self-esteem.

Self-Esteem and Own Family Composition

Homogeneity of variance refers to the similarity of the variance of one factor at all levels of the factor(s) with which it is compared (Field, 2009:787). Scores that differ to such an extent are referred to as outliers and can be said to be the cause of the violation of the assumption of homogeneity of variance.

Self-Esteem and Socioeconomic Status

Descriptive Data

Hypothesis 6

Self-Esteem and Parental Closeness

Descriptive Data

The information in Table 27 relates to the feelings of connection that repeat offenders experienced with their mothers and fathers or respective parental figures. However, the same cannot be said about feelings of closeness with father figures, although a greater number (38.36%) of repeat offenders classified their relationships with their father figures as “very close” than any other option available.

Hypothesis 7, 7.1 and 7.2

Comparison between self-esteem scores of repeat offenders and closeness to father figure Closeness Mean self-esteem score SD F-statistic p-value. Similarly, subhypothesis 7.2 is also not supported, as the differences in the mean self-esteem score between recidivists with different degrees of closeness to their father figures are not significant.

Self-Esteem and Childhood Family Structure

Descriptive Data

Repeaters who were raised by both their mother and father were grouped as “both parents” and those who were raised by both their grandmother and grandfather were grouped as “both grandparents”. The smallest number of repeat offenders (19.18%) had both grandparents contributing to their upbringing; however, this subgroup also had the highest mean self-esteem score.

Hypothesis 8

Furthermore, it can be said that 45.21% of the sample came from families that were structurally intact and where both parents contributed to their upbringing. Intact families are characterized by both parents being present and contributing to the child's upbringing, while disabled families may be indicative of a single family home or a complete parental absence due to death or abandonment.

Self-Esteem and Need for Acceptance

Descriptive Data

Hypothesis 9, 9.1 and 9.2

Although the difference is smaller, Table 34 similarly shows a non-significant difference between participants with parents who were in trouble with the law and those who were not. A similar pattern was found for parents in trouble with the law, although the difference was smaller.

Self-Esteem and Experiences of Abuse Prior to Incarceration

Descriptive Data

A comparison of self-esteem outcomes of repeat offenders who experienced different types of pre-incarceration abuse. A comparison of self-esteem outcomes of repeat offenders who experienced different types of victimization in a correctional facility.

Self-Esteem and Experiences of Victimisation Inside the

Descriptive Data

The length of time spent in the correctional institution was positively related to the level of self-esteem. Perception was again used in explaining the relationship between self-esteem and satisfaction with prison conditions.

Serendipitous Findings

It was found that the mean scores for the different types of experiences of abuse before incarceration were not statistically significantly different. The finding indicates that there is no statistically significant difference between the self-esteem scores of repeat offenders who experienced different types of victimization in the correctional center.

Self-Esteem and Visitations in the Correctional Centre

Descriptive Data

Hypothesis 12

Self-Esteem and Conditions in the Correctional Centre

Descriptive Data

Hypothesis 13

This is based on the finding that there is a statistically significant difference between the average self-esteem scores for repeat offenders who have a positive perception of the conditions within the correctional facility and those who have a negative perception. In terms of victimization in prison, some inmates may feel that they “deserve” to be victimized due to their low levels of self-esteem, supported and exacerbated by the poor conditions of the prison environment.

Self-Esteem and Participation in Treatment Programmes

Descriptive Data

Only one program category exceeded 17%, which was participation in the initial program with us, provided by an NGO, which is an introductory course to the rest of the programs provided by Phoenix Zululand. The next highest variable was for those who had not participated in any treatment program at all, accounting for 28.8% of the sample.

Hypothesis 14

The first objective of the study refers to an assessment of the level of self-esteem achieved by a group of repeat offenders. The Criminal Offending-Self-Esteem Nexus: Which Version of Self-Esteem Theory is Supported.

Self-Esteem and Community Treatment

Hypothesis 15.1

The information in Table 51 shows that the majority of repeat offenders (69.86%) felt they were treated fairly by their community upon release, and the remaining 30.14%. The result of the t-test indicates a statistically significant difference between the scores and therefore it can be concluded that recidivists who felt they were treated fairly by their community upon release had higher self-esteem scores than those who felt they were were treated unfairly and therefore provided support. for hypothesis 15.1.

Hypothesis 15.2

Perceptions of positive community treatment were found to be associated with increased self-esteem scores. This could indicate the presence of additional factors in addressing the relationship between self-esteem and community support.

Conclusion

In light of the analysis of the hypotheses presented in chapter 6 in relation to the variables related to self-esteem and repeated offending behaviour, the extent to which the aims of the study (see 1.5) have been achieved can now be discussed. Recommendations for future research regarding the relationship between self-esteem, repeated offending behavior and related factors based on the findings of the present study will also be presented.

Conclusions Pertaining to the Fulfilment of the Aims of the Study

The Assessment of Self-Esteem of a Group of Repeat Offenders

Scores for the subgroup of men (68.4), the subgroup of blacks (71.2), and the subgroup that included participants between the ages of 20 and 34 (71.7) were individually higher than the mean self-esteem score even for the sample of repeat offenders. criminals. However, the degree of variance in terms of standard deviation for the repeat offender sample was lower than the US samples, which were found to range between 18.4 and 18.8 for the respective subgroups, indicating a greater degree of similarity between the results of the repeat offender sample. of violators.

The Comparison of Self-Esteem between Repeat Offenders

Finally, the popular perspective of low self-esteem associated with offending was also supported, although this was not significant, as participants classified as economic, narcotic and 'other' offenders were found to have lower levels of self-esteem than the total of the sample. Furthermore, because many of the economic crimes included shoplifting, burglary and livestock theft, it could be defined as crimes of survival or opportunistic rather than motivated solely by greed.

The Multivariate Analysis of Self-Esteem in Relation

It was determined that participants who experienced vicarious violence within the correctional center had significantly lower levels of self-esteem than those who did not. It was determined that participants who were satisfied with the conditions in the correctional center had significantly higher levels of self-esteem than those who were not.

Recommendations for Future Research

Longitudinal Research
Control Groups
Triangulation
Evaluation of Treatment Programmes

Control groups could also include both male and female participants, allowing for cross-gender comparisons in terms of self-esteem and repetitive offending behavior. The complex nature of the relationship between self-esteem and recidivism demonstrates the need to use multiple methods of data collection and analysis.

Concluding Remarks

The relationship between self-esteem and academic success among African American students in a minority engineering program at a large research university in the southern United States (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). Extending Generalization Reliability Methods with the KR-21 Evaluates an RG Study of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory.

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Average CSEI-AF scores for repeat offender research participants

Marital Status

Frequency Distribution of Number of Children of the Research Participants

Cultural Group

Highest Level of School Education Obtained

Number of Siblings

Birth Order

Number of Times Incarcerated in a Correctional Centre

Frequency Distribution of Current Offences

Frequency Distribution of Past Offences

Length of Current Sentence