Citation

Ireland JL. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 2001; 6(2): 229-246.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1348/135532501168307

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purpose. The main aim of this study was to explore prison-based behavioural characteristics and personal/descriptive characteristics of the different groups involved in bullying behaviour, with a subsidiary aim of exploring gender differences regarding these characteristics. Methods. The sample was selected from four separate prison establishments (two male and two female) and consisted of 406 adult prisoners (196 females and 210 males). Prisoners were placed into one of four groups ('pure bullies', 'bully/ victims', 'pure victims' or 'not involved') on the basis of a self-report behaviour checklist (Direct and Indirect Prisoner behaviour Checklist (DIPC); Ireland, 1998). Results. Prison-based behaviours shown by prisoners appeared to be more predictive of group membership than the personal/descriptive characteristics such as age, sentence length, offence and institutional history addressed in the present study. The victim groups (i.e. pure victims and bully/victims) showed the most drug-related behaviour and negative behaviour towards staff. Gender differences were found with negative behaviour more predictive of group membership for female bully/victims, whereas for male bully/victims, drug-related and proactive/positive behaviours were more predictive of group membership. Conclusions. The present research showed how the personal/descriptive characteristics that adult prisoners brought with them to the prison environment appeared to be less important in predicting group membership than the behaviours that they displayed within the prison. The importance of these findings for bullying intervention programmes and directions for future research are discussed.

Language: en