NCJ Number
127591
Journal
Sex Roles Volume: 20 Issue: 3/4 Dated: (1989) Pages: 191-203
Date Published
1989
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Interviews with 302 male inmates of the maximum security prison in Napanoch formed the basis of an analysis of the impact of the mass media on sex role attitudes of men incarcerated in a maximum security prison.
Abstract
The interviews took place in January 1987 and gathered information on the hours spent daily watching television, listening to the radio, and reading newspapers and on sex role attitudes as measured on a 4-item scale used by the National Opinion Research Center General Social Survey. Findings showed that the inmates' attitudes were generally more liberal than those of the men in the general population, for each race, age, and education subgroup. In addition, the prison sample had less overall media consumption than the general population and watched news shows more often than other types of programming. Results suggest that television can be used as a rehabilitative tool in a prison environment. Media socialization with regard to sex roles may help a prisoner's reentry into society by making men aware of the current achievements of women in society, although a narrow presentation of women's roles by the media may theoretically hinder a prisoner's readjustment to the social scene. Tables and 34 references (Author abstract modified)