The Effects of Probation or Parole Agent Relationship Style and Women Offenders’ Criminogenic Needs on Offenders’ Responses to Supervision Interactions
| Author | Deborah A. Kashy,Merry Morash,Jennifer E. Cobbina,Sandi W. Smith |
| Published date | 01 April 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0093854814551602 |
| Date | 01 April 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2014
The effecTs Of PrObaTiOn Or ParOle
agenT relaTiOnshiP sTyle and WOmen
Offenders’ criminOgenic needs On
Offenders’ resPOnses TO suPervisiOn
inTeracTiOns
MERRy MORASH
DEBORAH A. KASHy
SANDI W. SMITH
JENNIFER E. COBBINA
Michigan State University
Although prior research revealed that in noncorrectional and correctional settings, staff relationship style affects client out-
comes, there has been little study of this effect for women offenders. The present study investigated effects of two dimensions
of relationship style (probation or parole agent–reported supportiveness and punitiveness) on female clients’ reports of
responding to interactions with their agents with anxiety, reactance, and a sense of self-efficacy to avoid a criminal lifestyle.
Results of a longitudinal study of 330 women on probation or parole revealed that agent supportiveness elicited lower anxi-
ety and reactance and higher crime-avoidance self-efficacy. Agent punitiveness elicited greater anxiety and crime-avoidance
self-efficacy. Moderation effect analysis showed that punitive style was most related to anxiety and reactance for women at
lowest risk for reoffending. In contrast, supportiveness was most related to positive outcomes for the highest risk women.
The research findings suggest areas for future theory development and approaches to effective correctional practice.
Keywords: probation; parole; dual-role relationship; women; moderation analysis
Women on probation and parole constitute an increasingly important correctional pop-
ulation for the study of the effects of interventions on recidivism. In recent decades,
the number of women under correctional control and supervision has increased at a substan-
tially faster rate than the number of men (Carson & Sabol, 2012; Glaze & Bonczar, 2009;
Glaze & Parks, 2012; Minton, 2012), and most individuals under correctional supervision
are in the community on probation or parole (Glaze & Parks, 2012). As a result, by 2012,
93,683 women in the United States were on parole and 955,461 women were on probation.
As such, women constituted 11% of the parole population and 24% of the probation popula-
tion (Maruschak & Bonczar, 2013). Not only are large numbers of women under
auThOrs’ nOTe: This article is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant
1126162 and by a Strategic Partnership grant from the Michigan State University Foundation. Correspondence
concerning this article should be addressed to Merry Morash, Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan
State University, 655 Auditorium Drive, East Lansing, MI 48824; e-mail: morashm@msu.edu.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2015, Vol. 42, No. 4, April 2015, 412 –434.
DOI: 10.1177/0093854814551602
© 2014 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology
412
Morash et al. / OFFENDERS’ RESPONSES TO SUPERVISION INTERACTIONS 413
supervision but also women present different recidivism-related needs than male offenders
(Van Voorhis, 2012). Compared with men, they have higher rates of substance abuse
dependencies and addictions, mental health problems, and histories of childhood and adult
abuse (Greenfeld & Snell, 1999; James & Glaze, 2006; Maidment, 2006; Morash, 2010;
Salisbury & Van Voorhis, 2009; Steadman, Osher, Robbins, Case, & Samuels, 2009). In
addition, low self-efficacy contributes to their recidivism (Bloom, Owen, Covington, &
Raeder, 2003; Rumgay, 2004; Salisbury, Van Voorhis, & Spiropoulis, 2009; Wright, Van
Voorhis, Bauman, & Salisbury, 2008). Given the many women under community supervi-
sion and their multiple needs, it is essential to understand the effects of this population’s
relationships with probation and parole officers, who deliver the most frequently used cor-
rectional intervention.
Though not specific to women, there is evidence that offenders’ relationships with proba-
tion and parole agents affect recidivism outcomes. The empirically supported and widely
applied Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) approach to corrections highlights the relevance of
high-quality relationships—characterized by warmth, openness, empathy, respect for the
client, and enthusiasm—to reducing crime-causing needs (Andrews, 2011; Andrews &
Bonta, 2010).1 Also, a review of other studies that are not specific to women supports the
conclusion that relationship quality predicts recidivism reduction (Taxman & Ainsworth,
2009; also see Skeem, Eno Louden, Polaschek, & Camp, 2007). The interpersonal style that
probation and parole agents adopt plays a role in the success of community supervision;
thus, it is a focus of the present study.
Women are also the focus of the present study not only because of their increased num-
bers in the justice system, but because their limited ties to prosocial supportive individuals
make relationships with probation and parole agents especially important. The most com-
mon type of woman offender, the two thirds with substance abuse histories (Langan &
Pelissier, 2001; Morash, 2010), is most likely to lack positive relationships. Specifically,
compared with male substance users and women offenders not using drugs, women with
histories of substance abuse have smaller prosocial support networks (Langan & Pelissier,
2001; Mallik-Kane & Visher, 2008; Pelissier, Camp, Gaes, Saylor, & Rhodes, 2003). One
reason is that family members do not provide a prosocial network, because they often
include individuals who break the law or who abused the women as children or intimate
partners (Leverentz, 2006; Morash, 2010; O’Brien, 2001). Moreover, women on probation
and parole frequently live in neighborhoods with limited prosocial networks to start with,
and then neighborhood social networks tend to further marginalize women offenders (Owen
& Bloom, 1995; Richie, 2001). Providing empirical support for the inadequacies of women
offenders’ networks, Skeem, Eno Louden, Manchak, Vidal, and Haddad (2009) found
offenders with substance abuse problems and mental illness (problems shared by many
women offenders) had extremely small social support networks. Studies also show that
more than men, some women count supervising agents as helpful social network members
(Bloom et al., 2003; Bui & Morash, 2010; Maidment, 2006; Morash, 2010; Skeem et al.,
2009). Thus, especially for women with substance abuse involvement, an effective relation-
ship with the supervising agent may have essential recidivism-reducing effects.
Despite the potential importance of women offenders’ relationships with supervising
agents, there is almost no research specific to probation and parole agent relationships with
women. One of the few exceptions (Green et al., 2013) points to the need for this type of
research. The study found that a strong working alliance (i.e., agreement on goals, openness
414 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR
to negotiate, and trust) between parole officers and parolees led to less risky sex behaviors
for women, but not men. The researchers conjectured that positive relationships increased
women’s self-efficacy to avoid risky sex, but were unable to provide empirical support for
this idea with their data because they could not test for effects of relationship quality on self-
efficacy. Understanding short-term effects of relationship style would, in a sense, begin to fill
the “black box” connecting relationship style to women offenders’ long-term outcomes. It
would specify possible short-term effects that could not only be significant in themselves but
also might explain why the nature of the probation or parole officer (PO)–offender relation-
ship influences long-term outcomes, such as substance abuse or other illegal behavior.
Findings along these lines would make a contribution by showing that some types of profes-
sional relationships promote short-term effects that, in turn, lead to desired outcomes.
Another needed extension of existing correctional research is examination of whether
client characteristics moderate the effects of PO relationship style on clients. In contrast to
correctional researchers who have neglected this topic, mental health and substance abuse
treatment experts recommend and carry out this type of research with the aim of determin-
ing the client characteristics that alter their responses to therapies (Carroll, 2005). For
example, a study of clients in psychotherapy for depression found that relationships charac-
terized by a strong working alliance predict a positive outcome only for clients with few
prior depressive episodes (Lorenzo-Luaces, DeRubeis, & Webb, 2014). Another study
revealed that an individual’s typical pattern of relating to other people moderates the con-
nection of a working alliance to psychotherapy outcomes (Piper, Ogrodniczuk, & Joyce,
2004). Finally, substance abuse treatment participants with low self-efficacy benefit most
from a strong working alliance (Ilgen, McKellar, Moos, & Finney, 2006; Ilgen, Tiet, Finney,
& Moos, 2006). Findings such as these suggest that women’s characteristics could alter the
effects of the PO’s style of relationship. If women most likely to recidivate in the first place
are most negatively affected by certain PO relationship styles, those relationship styles
would be highly contraindicated.
To fill gaps in prior research, the present study focuses on the short-term effects of PO
relationship styles on women offenders. The specific effects examined are...
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