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Childhood Maltreatment, Family Environment, and Problem Solving Style in Adult Criminal Offenders: A Comparative Study

This study investigated the relationship between experiences of childhood maltreatment, family functioning, problem-solving style, and criminal offending. Participants (N = 120) were all male and classified as violent (V), non-violent (NV), or non-offenders (NO) based on their criminal histories. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Family-of-Origin Scale (FOS), Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised (SPSI-R), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) were administered to all participants. Results suggest that V's reported significantly more maltreatment compared to NO's. V's came from the least healthy families while NO's came from the healthiest families. Finally, V's were more likely to use an impulsive approach and less likely to use a rational approach to solving problems than NO's. Experiences of physical neglect discriminated the groups. This study also discovered previously ignored correlations between these variables within each of the three groups and implications of these new findings are discussed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/193693
Date January 2006
CreatorsKitei, Nicole Schneider
ContributorsSales, Bruce D., Becker, Judith V., Beck, Connie J.A., Sbarra, David A.
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Electronic Dissertation
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

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