Citation

Walters GD. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 2000; 5(2): 261-272.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1348/135532500168128

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between outcome expectancies for crime, existential fear, and the negative consequences of criminal involvement. Methods. A group of 98 federal prison inmates completed three brief checklists: one designed to measure outcome expectancies for crime, one that surveyed various fears and concerns, and one that assessed the negative consequences of crime. Each measure had been divided into separate social attachment, control and identity scales prior to the start of this study. Results. A confirmatory factor analysis of each measure uncovered modest support for the proposed division of items into social, control and identity scales. The measures were then revised by dropping poorly differentiated items. Using these revised scales, a stronger relationship was observed between fear and expectancies than between negative consequences and expectancies. Structural modelling showed that the relationships were complex and general rather than simple and specific. Conclusions. Findings from this study indicate that social learning factors interact in their effect on crime and that outcome expectancies for crime are a complex function of both affective factors like fear and cognitive factors like the negative consequence of past criminal activities.

Language: en