Inmate Emotion Coping and Psychological and Physical Well-Being

• Author: Joop Van der Pligt,Liesbeth Claassen,Wilco W. Van Dijk,Frenk Van Harreveld
• DOI: 10.1177/0093854806298468
• Published date: 01 May 2007
• Date: 01 May 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

INMATE EMOTION COPING AND

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL

WELL-BEING

The Use of Crying Over Spilled Milk

FRENK VAN HARREVELD

JOOP VAN DER PLIGT

University of Amsterdam

LIESBETH CLAASSEN

WILCO W. VAN DIJK

Free University of Amsterdam

The study investigated the relation between coping strategies of inmates and their psychological and physical well-being. General

affective states such as optimism were related to both psychological and physical well-being. Moreover,inmates who experienced

specific negative emotions such as regret, anxiety,and sadness reported more psychological and physical complaints. The way in

which inmates coped with these negative emotions was also important. Inmates who used an active emotion-focused coping strat-

egy were in better health than inmates inclined to keep their negative feelings to themselves. Emotion-focused coping by sharing

negative emotions with people in one’s social network can help to increase both psychological and physical well-being. Engaging

in emotion management in a more cognitive way, by emphasizing positive aspects of the situation,can help to reduce the inten-

sity of negative emotions. Possible research and policy implications of these results are discussed.

Keywords: inmates; emotions in inmates; inmate coping

Behavioral scientists have long been interested in the causes and consequences of psycho-

logical well-being among prisoners. The relevance of this issue continues to grow as the

number of people imprisoned worldwide increases rapidly. Currently more than 9 million

people worldwide are in prison, according to the International Centre of Prison Studies (2005),

and almost half of them are in the United States (2.09 million), China (1.55 million), and

Russia (0.76 million). As a consequence, prisons become increasingly crowded. Crowding has

been related to aggressive behavior in prison context in a number of studies (Cox, Paulus, &

McCain, 1984; Paulus & McCain, 1983), and it should come as no surprise that violence in

prisons is also on the increase (e.g., Kimmett, O’Donnell, & Martin, 2002; McCorkle, 1992).

Prison crowding has also been found to be related to reduced levels of psychological well-

being (Lawrence & Andrews, 2004; Lepore, Evans, & Schneider, 1991). Psychological well-

being is often conceptualized in terms of stress, low self-esteem, loneliness, and depression

697

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, Vol. 34 No. 5,May 2007 697-708

DOI: 10.1177/0093854806298468

© 2007 American Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

AUTHORS’ NOTE: We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the management and wardens at the

Penitentiary Institutions Veenhuizen en Lelystad in obtaining permission to conduct this study. Correspondence

concerning this article should be addressed to Frenk van Harreveld,University of Amsterdam,Department of

Social Psychology,Roetersstraat 15,1018 WB,Amsterdam,The Netherlands; e-mail: f.vanharreveld@uva.nl.