Problems of Forensic Sciences 2012 Vol. 89 (LXXXIX) 57-70
INFLUENCE OF CHOSEN PERSONALITY FACTORS ON CONVICTED CRIMINALS’ LEVEL OF RE-ADAPTATION
Iwona NIEWIADOMSKA
Institute of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
Streszczenie
In research presented in the article, the occurrence of causal relations between chosen dimensions of personality (sense of coherence, experience of a value crisis, perception of social support, ways of coping with stress) and level of re-adaptation in penalised criminals was studied. Relations were studied in a group of 296 criminals who had received prison sentences. In the examined group, there were 160 imprisoned men and 136 criminals who had been free for at least 2 years since their last imprisonment. In the empirical analysis, six methods of measurement of psychological variables were used: 1) Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB; measurement of re-adaptation level of convicted criminals), 2) A. Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29), 3) Value Crisis Questionnaire by Oleś (KKW), 4) Assessment of Social Support Questionnaire by I. Niewiadomska, 5) Maudsley Addiction Profile by J. Marsden (MAP, assessment of frequency of use of various intoxicating substances as an avoidance coping strategy), 6) Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations by N. Endler and J. Parker (CISS; measurement of stress coping styles). Path analysis was used as the statistical method. It confirmed the existence of a causal relationship by which a low level of a sense of coherence conditions the experience of a value crisis, which in turn directly contributes to a growth in adaptation problems in criminals who have served time in prison. However, the following relations: 1) a sense of coherence conditions a value crisis, and 2) problems in the axio-normative system contribute in an indirect way (through use of psychoactive substances, perception of social support, intensification of task-, emotional- or avoidance-oriented style of coping) to maladjustment of criminals – were not confirmed.