Studying Self-Actualization of Men for the First Time Held in a Pre-Trial Detention Center with regard to Other Characteristics of Their Personality
Krotova D.N., Tsvetkova N.A. Studying self-actualization of men for the first time held in a pre-trial detention center with regard to other characteristics of their personality. Penitentiary Science, 2022, vol. 16, no. 4 (60), pp. 425–433. doi: 10.46741/26869764.2022.60.4.009.
Introduction: the article studies the specifics of self-actualization of men aged 25–50, for the first time held in a pre-trial detention center as the suspected and the accused. This mechanism was studied in connection with other personality characteristics, presumably causing its launch in conditions of imprisonment. The goal was to express the character of self-actualization with a personality structure consisting of five basic traits (neuroticism, extroversion, affection, self-control, expressiveness), life-meaning orientations, guilt, reflexivity and coping. Methods: psychological testing with the help of the Personal Orientation Inventory, “Big Five personality traits”; “LifeMeaning Orientations”, GuiltInventory, Reflexivity test (IMR), Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Results: the surveyed can achieve genuine self-actualization instead of criminal, but for this they need the help of a psychologist (the share of men with pseudo-self-actualization amounts to 5.6%; 20.6% has a low overall level of self-actualization). The group is described by the following: a high level of neuroticism in the personality structure combined with a low level of affection; tending to low indicator of meaningfulness of life (46.7% of men have a low indicator); an average level of guilt (mainly guilt as a state), while half of the sample shows a low level of moral norms; a fairly high level of reflexivity (46% of men have high indicators); the coping strategy “escape/avoidance” or (less often) “confrontation” is used by the surveyed, and “self-control” is unpopular among them. Conclusions: the results show the presence of the problem of self-actualization in this category of men, but also the possibility of its resolution through the correctional and developmental work of psychologists aimed at optimizing personal characteristics closely related to self-actualization (coping, meaningfulness of life, neuroticism and affection, reflexivity, guilt).
Keywords: men held in pre-trial detention centers; self-actualization; personal characteristics: life-meaning orientations, guilt, individual measure of reflexivity, coping; connection of selfactualization features with other personal characteristics.
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