Social Support and Anger Expression Among Incarcerated Women

• NCJ Number: 205879
• Journal: Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Dated: 2004 Pages: 27-50
• Author(s): Ann Booker Loper; Jennifer Whitney Gildea
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Incarcerated women at a maximum-security State facility (n=216) completed a questionnaire that inquired about the women's perceived social support and structured activities within the prison, as well as support from prison surrogate families; a series of regression analyses assessed the relationship between these perceptions of social support measures and manifestations of anger.

Abstract

The Prison Personal Support Questionnaire, which was developed for this study, was divided into three sections. One section elicited descriptive information on the frequency of contact with sources of support, the number of sources of support, and participation in prison activities. The second section queried the women about the perceived degree of support received from other inmates, staff, and prison activities. The final section focused on the inmate's experience as a member of a surrogate family. Anger was measured by the Spielberger State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, which is a well-validated self-report anger measure that has been used with a variety of samples, including prison populations. The study found that women who perceived higher levels of social support from fellow inmates tended to express higher levels of anger; whereas, the women who perceived higher levels of social support from vocational, educational, and recreational activities tended to express lower levels of anger. The findings also indicated that a large proportion of women in prison have family-like relationships within the prison and that women who perceive higher levels of support from such surrogate family relationships tended to have greater difficulties with anger control. The authors advise that maladaptive relational patterns that women may have developed over a lifetime will likely recreate themselves as women seek similar relationships in prison. These relational patterns, which are apparently associated with difficulties in anger expression, can benefit from direct intervention. 6 tables and 44 references