NCJ Number
79253
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1981) Pages: 95-102
Date Published
1981
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The effect of life changes on criminal behavior was examined by comparing responses to a questionnaire from male recidivists and first offenders in Australian prison with control groups of unemployed males averaging 18 years old and young adult government workers.
Abstract
Although life changes questionnaires have been widely used as indicators of life stress, only one study has been published concerning life changes and imprisonment. Volunteer subjects in 2 United States prisons provided evidence of an accumulation of life changes reaching a crisis level during the 12 months prior to incarceration. In this project, the Recent Life Changes Questionnaire was completed by 34 male recidivists and 40 first offenders in Risdon Prison in the Australian State of Tasmania, 39 unemployed males attending the Community Youth Support Scheme (CYSS) program, and 40 males employed as clerks or office workers by the Australian government. The instrument consisted of 55 life change items categorized as health, work, home and family, personal and social, and financial. Each event was assigned a numerical value indicating the amount of psychological readjustment required to respond to a life change. During the 12-month period before imprisonment, each recidivist and first offender experienced an average of 14 separate life changes and CYSS participant experienced 12 changes, compared with an average of less than 9 changes for government employees over the preceding year. Prisoners reported more moves to another State, changes in family associations, changes in a family member's health, and deaths of close friends than did the control groups. Analysis of the responses suggests that mounting life changes which achieve crisis proportions over a 12-month period are a predictive index for imprisonment. Differences between recidivists and first offenders showed that the recidivists had more interpersonal conflicts and that their life changes tended to be concentrated in the 6 months preceding imprisonment. Although the unemployed respondents also reported increasing life changes, they had developed social networks among persons in the CYSS program that seemingly buffered their psychological problems. Tables and 9 references are included.