| The study compared the levels of anger, anxiety, and self esteem of 112 adult male inmates in a correctional treatment facility in a Mid-Atlantic state, according to severity of crimes committed. The purpose of the study was to aid in formulating counseling models and interventions on criminal offending to benefit offenders, their families, the criminal justice system, society, and to contribute to the body of literature on male offenders. The State Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) was utilized to measure anger and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Forms Y-1 and Y-2, measured anxiety, both by Spielberger. The Self Esteem Scale (SES) by Rosenberg measured self esteem. Total administration time including completion of the Short Informational Form (SIF) and the Demographic Questionnaire (DQ) was 90 minutes. Six hypotheses were formulated to find if there were relationships in anger, anxiety, or self esteem to crime type, age, prior drug use, recidivism, and marital status. The findings were that there was no difference in levels of anger, anxiety, and self esteem for offenders in the serious crimes group (n = 92) or the less serious crimes group (n = 20). Numerous significant relationships were found for anger, anxiety, and self esteem (N = 112) and also for age as an independent factor with anxiety. Prior drug use also proved to be significant with composite anger scores (F = 4.008, p = .048). Prior arrests or recidivism was significant with the composite anger score (F = 9.783, p = .002), with state anxiety (F = 4.171, p = .044), and with self esteem (F = 4.109, p = .045). There were no significant findings for marital status. The research design was a one-shot descriptive case study. |
