There is broad consensus that the strains of imprisonment and unsupported release affect offenders’ mental health and operate to the detriment of their chances of successful reintegration. Drawing on data from 208 male inmates, the authors examine the mediating and moderating influences of social support on the links between inmates’ perceptions of prison conditions and other background variables on parolees’ feelings of hostility—a factor theoretically linked to reoffending—upon release. The results demonstrate that social support partially or completely mediates background characteristics and conditions the influence of prison perceptions on released inmates’ levels of hostility.
Agnew, R. ( 1985). A revised strain theory of delinquency. Social Forces, 64, 151-167.
2.
Agnew, R. ( 1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency . Criminology, 30, 47-87.
3.
Agnew, R., & Brezina, T. ( 1997). Relational problems with peers, gender and delinquency . Youth & Society, 29, 84-111.
4.
Armstrong, G.S., & MacKenzie, D.L. (2003). Private versus public juvenile correctional facilities: Do differences in environmental quality exist? Crime & Delinquency, 49, 542-563.
5.
Austin, J. ( 2001). Prisoner reentry: Current trends, practices, and issues . Crime & Delinquency, 47, 314-334.
6.
Bazemore, G. ( 2001). Young people, trouble, and crime: Restorative justice as a normative theory of informal social control and social support. Youth & Society, 33, 199-226.
7.
Bowker, L.H. ( 1980). Prison victimization. New York: Elsevier.
8.
Brezina, T. ( 1998). Adolescent maltreatment and delinquency: The question of intervening processes. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 35, 71-99.
9.
Broidy, L. ( 2001). A test of general strain theory. Criminology , 39, 9-36.
10.
Clear, T.R. ( 1994). Harm in American penology: Offenders, victims, and their communities. Albany: State University of New York Press.
11.
Clear, T.R., Waring, E., & Scully, K. ( 2005). Communities and reentry: Concentrated reentry cycling . In J. Travis & C. Visher (Eds.), Prisoner reentry and crime in America (pp. 179-208). New York: Cambridge University Press.
12.
Colvin, M., Cullen, F.T., & Vander Ven, T. (2002). Coercion, social support, and crime: An emerging theoretical consensus. Criminology , 40, 19-42.
13.
Cornwell, B. ( 2003). The dynamic properties of social support: Decay, growth, and staticity, and their effects on adolescent depression. Social Forces, 81, 953-978.
14.
Cullen, F.T. ( 1994). Social support as an organizing concept for criminology: Presidential address to the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Justice Quarterly, 11, 527-560.
15.
Cullen, F.T., Pratt, T.C., Levrant, S., & Moon, M. ( 2002). Dangerous liaison: Rational choice theory as the basis for correctional intervention. In A. R. Piquero & S. G. Tibbetts (Eds.), Rational choice and criminal behavior: Recent research and future challenges (pp. 279-298). New York: Routledge.
16.
Cullen, F.T., Wright, J.P., & Chamlin, M.B. ( 1999). Social support and social reform: A progressive crime control agenda. Crime & Delinquency, 45, 188-207.
17.
Currie, E. ( 1998). Crime and punishment in America. New York: Henry Holt.
18.
DeLisi, M. ( 2005). Career criminals in society. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
19.
DeLisi, M., Hochstetler, A., & Murphy, D.S. ( 2003). Self-control behind bars: A validation study of the Grasmick et al. scale. Justice Quarterly, 20, 241-263.
20.
Derogatis, L.R., & Melisaratos, N. (1983). The Brief Symptom Inventory: An introductory report. Psychological Medicine, 13, 595-605.
21.
Durose, M.R., & Mumola, C.J. ( 2004). Profile of nonviolent offenders exiting state prisons . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
22.
Farrell, A. ( 2000). Women, crime, and drugs: Testing the effect of therapeutic communities. Women and Criminal Justice, 11, 21-48.
23.
Farrington, D.P., & Loeber, R. ( 2000). Some benefits of dichotomization in psychiatric and criminological research. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 10, 100-122.
24.
Farrington, D.P., Ohlin, L.E., & Wilson, J.Q. ( 1986). Understanding and controlling crime: Toward a new research strategy. New York: Springer-Verlag .
25.
Gottfredson, M.R., & Hirschi, T. ( 1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
26.
Grasmick, H.G., Tittle, C.R., Bursik, R.J., Jr., & Arneklev, B.J. (1993). Testing the core empirical implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30, 5-29.
27.
Gutierrez-Lobos, K., Eher, R., Grunhut, C., Bankier, B., Schmidl-Mohl, B., Fruhwald, S., & Semier, B. ( 2001). Violent sex offenders lack male social support. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 45, 70-82.
28.
Hanson, R.K., & Scott, H. ( 1996). The social networks of sexual offenders. Psychology, Crime and Law, 2, 249-258.
29.
Hanson, R.W., Moss, C.S., Hosford, R.E., & Johnson, M.E. ( 1983). Predicting inmate penitentiary adjustment: An assessment of four classificatory methods. Criminal Justice and Behavior , 10, 293-309.
30.
Harrison, P.M., & Beck, A.J. ( 2005). Prison and jail inmates at midyear 2004. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
31.
Hewitt, J.D., Poole, E.D., & Regoli, R.M. ( 1984). Self-reported and observed rule breaking in prison: A look at disciplinary response. Justice Quarterly, 1, 437-447.
32.
Hochstetler, A., & DeLisi, M. (2005). Importation, deprivation, and varieties of serving time: An integrated-lifestyle-exposure model of prison offending. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33, 257-266.
33.
Irwin, J. ( 1980). Prisons in turmoil. Boston: Little, Brown.
34.
Jiang, S., Fisher-Giorlando, M., & Mo, L. ( 2005). Social support and inmate rule violations: A multilevel analysis. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 71-86.
35.
Jiang, S., & Winfree, L.T., Jr. (2006). Social support, gender, and inmate adjustment to prison life: Insights from a national sample. The Prison Journal, 86, 32-55.
36.
Laub, J.H., & Sampson, R.J. ( 2003). Shared beginnings, divergent lives. Delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
37.
Lipsey, M.W. ( 1992). Juvenile delinquency treatment: A meta-analytic inquiry into the variability of effects. In T. D. Cook, H. Cooper, D. S. Cordray, H. Hartmann , L. V. Hedges, R. J. Light, et al. (Eds.), Meta-analysis for explanation: A casebook (pp. 83-107). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
38.
Maruna, S. ( 2001). Making good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
39.
Maruna, S., & Toch, H. ( 2005). The impact of imprisonment on the desistance process . In J. Travis & C. Visher (Eds.), Prisoner reentry and crime in America (pp. 139-178). New York: Cambridge University Press.
40.
Mauer, M. ( 1999). Race to incarcerate. New York: Free Press.
41.
Mazerolle, P., & Maahs, J. ( 2000). General strain and delinquency: An alternative examination of conditioning influences. Justice Quarterly, 17, 753-778.
42.
Mazerolle, P., & Piquero, A. ( 1998). Linking exposure to strain with anger: An investigation of deviant adaptations. Journal of Criminal Justice, 26, 195-211.
43.
McCain, G., Cox, V.C., & Paulus, P.B. ( 1980). The effect of prison crowding on inmate behavior. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
44.
McCord, J. ( 1994). Crimes through time: Review of R. J. Sampson and J. H. Laub’s Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life . Contemporary Sociology, 23, 414-415.
45.
McLewin, L.A., & Muller, R.T. ( 2006). Attachment and social support in the prediction of psychopathology among young adults with and without a history of physical maltreatment. Child Abuse and Neglect, 30, 171-191.
46.
Moffitt, T.E. ( 1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701.
47.
Nagin, D.S., & Paternoster, R. (2000). Population heterogeneity and state dependence: State of evidence and directions for future research . Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 16, 117-144.
48.
Palmer, T. ( 1992). The re-emergence of correctional intervention. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
49.
Petersilia, J. ( 1996, Spring). A crime control rationale for reinvesting in community corrections. Perspectives, pp. 21-29.
50.
Petersilia, J. ( 2005). From cell to society: Who is returning home? In J. Travis & C. Visher (Eds.), Prisoner reentry and crime in America (pp. 15-49). New York: Cambridge University Press.
51.
Pratt, T.C., & Cullen, F.T. ( 2000). The empirical status of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime: A meta-analysis. Criminology, 38, 931-964.
52.
Pratt, T.C., & Cullen, F.T. ( 2005). Assessing macro level predictors and theories of crime: A meta-analysis. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 32, pp. 373-450). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
53.
Pratt, T.C., & Godsey, T.W. ( 2002). Social support and homicide: A cross- national test of an emerging criminological theory. Journal of Criminal Justice , 30, 589-601.
54.
Pratt, T.C., & Godsey, T.W. ( 2003). Social support, inequality, and homicide: A cross-national test of an integrated theoretical model. Criminology, 41, 101-133.
55.
Reisig, M.D., Holtfreter, K., & Morash, M. ( 2002). Social capital among women offenders: Examining the distribution of social networks and resources. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 18, 167-187.
56.
Sampson, R.J., & Laub, J.H. ( 1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
57.
Sampson, R.J., & Laub, J.H. ( 1995). Understanding variability in lives through time: Contributions of life-course criminology. Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention , 4, 143-158.
58.
Shover, N. ( 1996). Great pretenders: Pursuits and careers of persistent thieves. Boulder, CO: Westview.
59.
Steffensmeier, D.J., & Ulmer, J.T. ( 2005). Confessions of a dying thief: Understanding criminal careers and illegal enterprise. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine/ Transaction.
60.
Tibbetts, S.G., & Gibson, C.L. ( 2002). Individual propensities and rational decision-making: Recent findings and promising approaches. In A. R. Piquero & S. G. Tibbetts (Eds.), Rational choice and criminal behavior: Recent research and future challenges (pp. 3-24). New York: Routledge.
61.
Travis, J., & Petersilia, J. (2001). Reentry reconsidered: A new look at an old question. Crime & Delinquency, 47, 291-313.
62.
Travis, J., & Visher, C. (Eds.). (2005). Prisoner reentry and crime in America. New York: Cambridge University Press.
63.
Van Voorhis, P. ( 1994). Measuring prison disciplinary problems: A multiple indicators approach to understanding prison adjustment. Justice Quarterly , 11, 679-710.
64.
Walters, G.D. ( 1990). The criminal lifestyle: Patterns of serious criminal conduct. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE .
65.
Walters, G.D. ( 2003). Changes in criminal thinking and identity in novice and experienced inmates: Prisonization revisited. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 30, 399-421.
66.
Wooldredge, J.D. ( 1994). Inmate crime and victimization in a southwestern correctional facility. Journal of Criminal Justice, 22, 367-381.
67.
Wright, J.P., Cullen, F.T., & Miller, J.T. ( 2001). Family social capital and delinquent involvement. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 1-9.
68.
Wright, K.N. ( 1985). Developing the prison environment inventory. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 22, 257-277.
69.
Wright, K.N. ( 1993). Prison environment and behavioral outcomes. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 20, 93-113.
70.
Yu, C.-Y. ( 2002). Evaluating cutoff criteria of model fit indices for latent variable models with binary and continuous outcomes. Unpublished dissertation , University of California, Los Angeles.
