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Abstract

The construct validity of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles's Fear-of-Change scale (FOC) was evaluated by correlating it with scales from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). As expected, the FOC displayed a positive association with the PAI Anxiety (ANX) scale and negative associations with the PAI Positive Impression Management and Treatment Rejection scales among 136 male inmates. The FOC also forged a stronger relationship with the ANX's Cognitive subscale than with the Affective or Physiological subscales. It was further surmised that a subgroup of 54 participants retested after 3 months of program participation witnessed significant FOC gains. An independent sample of 239 medium-security male inmates participated in a second study in which significant FOC accretions were found in offenders who discontinued programming but not in offenders who continued or graduated. A third study conducted on 46 nonprogram participants effectively ruled out the alternative hypothesis that FOC scores rise in nonprogram offenders.

Keywords

PICTS Fear-of-Change scale construct validity predictive validity

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The PICTS Fear-of-Change Scale

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