NCJ Number
212251
Journal
Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: 2005 Pages: 164-170
Date Published
2005
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study compared depressive symptoms among prisoners who had made an attempt to self-harm with prisoners, matched according to demographic factors, who had not.
Abstract
Current research shows that self-harm among prisoners is high and that suicide rates are increasing. The aim of this study was to determine whether and to what extent these problems were linked to previous incidents of self-harm. Participants included 24 prisoners who were new to an adult male Category B local prison in England who had reported previous self-harm and 24 prisoners, matched according to demographic factors, who had not. Both groups of prisoners were assessed using the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation. Univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to compare the mean scores for the two groups on the three scales. The analyses found that there was a significant difference on each scale for the two groups, with the prisoner group with a previous history of suicidal behavior consistently scoring higher than the comparison group. These results show that prisoners with a previous history of self-harm are significantly more likely than prisoners without to show a range of depressive symptoms and to have a continued vulnerability to self-harm and perhaps suicide while in prison. Further research is needed to determine if these symptoms continue through the imprisonment. Tables, references