The assessment of pre-posttest changes in selected personality variables among incarcerated felons participating in a therapeutic community at a maximum security federal penitentiary

Group/Peer Support

May 2021

Full Citation

Collins, J. H. (1985). The assessment of pre-posttest changes in selected personality variables among incarcerated felons participating in a therapeutic community at a maximum security federal penitentiary (Doctoral dissertation, George Washington University).

Abstract

This study examines changes in scores on selected MMPI and CPI scales among inmates who participated in a therapeutic community at the U.S. penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. The treatment program was eclectic, with a primary focus on Transactional Analysis.

The sample population consisted of 58 federal prisoners involved in the Askelepieion Therapeutic Community for a minimum of 12 months between August 1969 and August 1974. The average age at the time of entry into the therapeutic community was 31.6 years.

The study investigated four research questions designed to assess the efficacy of using socialization through reparenting, a concept of Transactional Analysis, as a part of a treatment modality to help inmates develop behavioral patterns and social controls to reenter society successfully. It was assumed that changes in behavior would be predicated on changes in self-concept, which were measured by examining changes in selected personality variables from the MMPI and CPI.

Findings of the study suggest that: (1) Demographic variables did not account for a significant amount of the variance observed on the pre-test means obtained on the MMPI and CPI scales examined. (2) Significant changes in the selected personality variables were observed within the sample population during the treatment program. (3) Demographic variables did not account for the change observed between the pre-tests and post-tests. (4) Sixty perccent of the post-test mean scores shifted in the socially desirable direction.

The findings suggest that TA may have been effective in facilitating changes in the selected personality variables as measured by the CPI and MMPI, but the changes may not have been great enough to ensure adequate changes in behavior upon release to avoid reincarceration.