NCJ Number
102120
Journal
Journal of Applied Social Psychology Volume: 16 Issue: 5 Dated: (1986) Pages: 375-386
Date Published
1986
Length
12 pages
Annotation
A study of inmates in two men's prisons focused on the interrelationships among inmates' perceived control over their environment, their liking for their rooms, and the physical symptoms they experienced.
Abstract
Subjects were inmates at the Stone Mountain Correctional Institution in Georgia and the Metro Institution. Fifty inmates who had been at the first prison for at least 6 months and 173 inmates from the second prison completed a questionnaire. The second group completed the questionnaires in April 1982. The questionnaire contained four groups of questions: (1) ratings of living arrangements on a 7-point bipolar scale, (2) similar ratings of factors that upset them, (3) the ratings of control over 9 aspects of prison life, and (4) the frequency of 54 different bodily symptoms. The inmates' files provided additional information. The first study showed that inmates' perceptions of crowding, stress, and physical symptoms were significantly related to their perceptions of control. In the second prison, inmates who lived in singles liked their rooms more, perceived more control, and experienced less stress than those living in groups. Either the amount of space or the number of people could have produced this effect, however. Regardless of the type of cell, inmates' perceptions of control related significantly to their feelings about their living accommodations, their experienced stress, and their physical symptoms. Research recommendations, discussions of possible architectural and organizational changes, and 27 references.