Incarcerated Women Identified with Trauma: The Relationship to Coping Skills, Social Supports, and Self-Esteem

Lindgren, Diane K. (2002) Incarcerated Women Identified with Trauma: The Relationship to Coping Skills, Social Supports, and Self-Esteem. Masters Thesis, Department of Psychology, Central Connecticut State University.

Abstract

Estimates of the incidence of mental disorders indicate that 35% of inmates in prison populations have a diagnosable mental illness, indicating there is a need to understand how emotional disturbance plays a role in the mental status of female prisoners if rehabilitation is to occur. It has also been found that a considerable percentage of both men and women prisoners have clinical difficulties with low self-esteem, high personal stress, depression, increased aggression, and problems with friends and family. The focus of this research is to study selected aspects of the mental health of incarcerated females by studying a sample of female inmates to see if they exhibit clinical psychiatric symptoms. Measures of coping skills, social supports, self-esteem, and trauma were obtained by administering four questionnaires: The Traumatic Symptom Inventory (TSI), The Ways of Coping Scale (COPE), The Family Environment Scale (FES), and The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI). The author hypothesized that incarcerated women will exhibit clinically significant traumatic symptomatology as measured by the TSI; will have few social supports as measured by the FES; low coping skills as measuring by the COPE; low self-esteem as measured by the SEI; and inmates with clinically significant TSI scores on depression will have lower SEI scores, lower FES scores, and lower COPE scores. Analyses of the data showed that inmates scored clinical elevations on three TSI scales: Intrusive Experiences, Defensive Avoidance, and Dysfunctional Sexual Behavior. The Ways of Coping Scale scores showed that the inmates used self-control and positive reappraisal most frequently. Overall the majority of subjects had high to medium level self-esteem, in contrast to what the study predicted. In examining the relationship among coping skills, social supports, and lower self-esteem, a significant correlation between self-esteem scores on the depression scale of the TSI occurred. Suggestions for further research are proposed. Recommendations are that correctional facilities employ valid and reliable assessment procedures that can detect psychiatric problems in order to aid in the rehabilitation of incarcerated women from a wholistic perspective. The goal of this thesis, to gain a greater understanding of emotional disturbances among female inmates and to determine if any trends exist toward an identifiable clinical profile, was accomplished.