Adult Attachment Style, Empathy and Social Distance Towards People who have Offended: An Exploration Within Probation.

Transcription

1 Adult Attachment Style, Empathy and Social Distance Towards People who have Offended: An Exploration Within Probation. Thesis Presentation (June 2016) Emma Warren Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

2 Background People who have Offended Research suggests that people who have offended (PWHO) are stigmatised within society as a whole. This is particularly true for people who have committed sex offences (Furst & Evans, 2015). This stigma has damaging consequences (LeBel, Burnett, Maruna & Bushway, 2008) Can result in social distance being created (Bell, 2013; Tsai et al., 2013). Perceptions of professionals involved therefore crucial Influence of staff characteristics (Kelly, 2014)

3 Background Adult Attachment Style Influence of Attachment Style Attachment theory (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991) suggests that infant attachment patterns, developed through interactions during childhood, evolve into internal working models that persist into adulthood (Howe, 2011). Research also suggests that attachment security is related to empathy This is particularly important to consider within clinical settings/ caring professions Probation is an area whereby professionals are providing one-toone input to people who are in need of support

4 Method Online anonymous survey Probation officers within NPS, North West initially then extended nationally Demographics - gender, age, region, length of time working in role and gender of people working with. Two groups presented with different types of offences committed Vignette A Imagine you have been working with Darren, a 37-year-old man. Darren has been in prison for four years and the reason for his incarceration is because of his conviction for sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm (AOABH) towards a child. This is not Darren s only conviction of this nature. Darren appears to be engaging well with you; he is attending the appropriate rehabilitation programmes consistently and he often looks pleased to see you.

5 Method Online anonymous survey Probation officers within NPS, North West initially then extended nationally Demographics - gender, age, region, length of time working in role and gender of people working with. Two groups presented with different types of offences committed Vignette B Imagine you have been working with Darren, a 37-year-old man. Darren has been in prison for four years and the reason for his incarceration is because of his conviction for grievous bodily harm towards a 38 year old man. This is not Darren s only conviction of this nature. Darren appears to be engaging well with you; he is attending the appropriate rehabilitation programmes consistently and he often looks pleased to see you.

6 Method Online anonymous survey Probation officers within NPS, North West initially then extended nationally Demographics - gender, age, region, length of time working in role and gender of people working with. Two groups presented with different types of offences committed All completed measures of: Attachment style: Experiences in Close Relationships Scale- Short Form (Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt & Vogel, 2007)

7 Experiences in Close Relationships Scale- Short Form (Wei et al., 2007)

8 Method Online anonymous survey Probation officers within NPS, North West initially then extended nationally Demographics - gender, age, region, length of time working in role and gender of people working with. Two groups presented with different types of offences committed All completed measures of: Attachment style: Experiences in Close Relationships Scale- Short Form (Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt & Vogel, 2007) Empathy: Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983)

9 Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983)

10 Method Online anonymous survey Probation officers within NPS, North West initially then extended nationally Demographics - gender, age, region, length of time working in role and gender of people working with. Two groups presented with different types of offences committed All completed measures of: Attachment style: Experiences in Close Relationships Scale- Short Form (Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt & Vogel, 2007) Empathy: Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983) Social distance: Social Distance Scale (Link, Cullen, Frank, & Wozniak, 1987) in response to Vignette A or B

11 Social Distance Scale (Link et al., 1987) 1. How would you feel about renting a room in your home out to someone like Darren? 2. How about as a worker on the same job as someone like Darren? 3. How would you feel having someone like Darren as a neighbour? 4. How about as the carer of your children for a couple of hours? 5. How about having your children marry someone like Darren? 6. How would you feel about introducing Darren to a young woman you are friendly with? 7. How would you feel about recommending someone like Darren for a job working for a friend of yours? 0 = definitely willing 1 = probably willing 2 = probably unwilling 3 = definitely unwilling

12 Initial findings 145 participants in total: 74/71 vignette split; 76% women Gender: Women scored sig. higher than men on empathic concern and attachment anxiety Age: years scored sig. lower on EC and PT; sig. higher on Avoidance Social distance significantly higher for participants presented with Vignette A (M = 15.39) than Vignette B (M = 12.38), t(143)= 5.51, p <.001 CORRELATIONS Borderline relationship between empathic concern and social distance (lower empathic concern, more social distance)

13 Initial correlations Relationships between attachment style, empathic traits and social distance. ***p <.001, **p <.01, *p =.059

14 However Vignette A Gender: Women scored sig. higher than men on empathic concern Age: Difference became stronger No differences in relation to length of time working Vignette B Gender and age differences not maintained POs working for 20+ years (M = 15.14) desired sig. more social distance from person in Vignette B than those working for years (M = 10.74), F(5, 64)= 2.28, p =.042 Social Distance was associated with Personal Distress (r =.22) Social Distance was associated with Empathic Concern (r =.35)

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16 Clinical Implications How are PWHO affected? Social distance and empathy (Marshall, Serran et al., 2002; Marshall, Ward et al., 2005; Serran & Marshall, 2010) How are professionals affected? Social distance and personal distress (Oxburgh, Ost, Morris & Cherryman, 2015) Oldest and most experienced show less empathy and more avoidance - Arnold (2016) suggests that low scores on empathy (prison officers) may represent a protective mechanism and a functional response to the job (p. 277). - West (2015) higher attachment avoidance associated with higher levels of burnout and compassion fatigue for caring professionals

17 Strengths and Limitations Good sample size (n = 145) Good external validity Raised important clinical implications/ areas for future research Offence in vignette was not independently manipulated (four differences) Did not consider women who have offended Did not consider things such as prior training, presence of children

18 References Bell, E. (2013). The Prison Paradox in Neoliberal Britain. In D. Scott (Ed.), Why Prison? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 44(1), doi: / Furst, R. T., & Evans, D. N. (2014). An Exploration of Stigma in the Lives of Sex Offenders and Heroin Abusers. Deviant Behavior, 36(2), doi: / Horn, R., & Hollin, C. R. (1997). Police beliefs about women who offend. Legal And Criminological Psychology, 2(2), doi: /j tb00343.x Kelly, D. (2014). Punish or reform? Predicting prison staff punitiveness. Howard Journal Of Criminal Justice, 53(1), doi: /hojo.12045

19 References cont. LeBel, T.P., Burnett, R., Maruna, S. and Bushway, S. (2008) The `Chicken and egg of subjective and social factors in Desistance from crime. European Journal of Criminology, 5(2), pp doi: / Link, B. G., Cullen, F. T., Frank, J., & Wozniak, J. F. (1987). The social rejection of former mental patients: Understanding why labels matter. American Journal Of Sociology, 92(6), doi: / Tsai, A. C., Bangsberg, D. R., Kegeles, S. M., Katz, I. T., Haberer, J. E., Muzoora, C., &... Weiser, S. D. (2013). Internalized Stigma, Social Distance, and Disclosure of HIV Seropositivity in Rural Uganda. Annals Of Behavioral Medicine, 46(3), doi: /s Wei, M., Russell, D. W., Mallinckrodt, B. and Vogel, D. L. (2007). The Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (ECR)-Short Form: Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 88(2),

20 Thank you I welcome your questions. e.warren@lancaster.ac.uk