The Effects of the Growing Pro-Social Program on Early Maladaptive Schemas and Schema-Related Emotions in Male Young Offenders: A Nonrandomized Trial

• Author: Nélio Brazão,Rita Ramos Miguel,Marlene Paulo,Daniel Rijo
• Date: 01 October 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20912988
• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20912988

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2020, Vol. 64(13-14) 1422 –1442

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20912988

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Article

The Effects of the Growing

Pro-Social Program on Early

Maladaptive Schemas and

Schema-Related Emotions

in Male Young Offenders:

A Nonrandomized Trial

Daniel Rijo1, Rita Ramos Miguel1,

Marlene Paulo1, and Nélio Brazão1,2

Abstract

This study aimed to test the effects of a 25-session version of the Growing Pro-

Social (GPS-25) program over schemas and schema-related emotions in male

young offenders. Participants included 123 youth aged between 14 and 19 years,

placed in eight Portuguese detention facilities. Youth were allocated to receive

GPS (n = 63) or treatment as usual (n = 60), and answered a self-report measure

assessing schemas and schema-related emotions at baseline and posttreatment.

Two-factor mixed multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA; group change) and

the Reliable Change Index (individual change) revealed nonsignificant differences

between groups for the schema’s endorsement. Significant differences between

groups were found for the schema-related emotions: Treatment participants

presented lower scores and/or higher clinical improvements after GPS, when

compared with controls. GPS-25 produced change at an emotional level but not

in schema’s endorsement, suggesting that longer interventions should be tested

in their capability to promote cognitive and emotional change in young offenders.

Keywords

clinical trials, early maladaptive schemas, disruptive emotions, Growing Pro-Social

Program, male young offenders

1Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra, Portugal

2Lusófona University, Lisboa, Portugal

Corresponding Author:

Daniel Rijo, Research Center of the Center for Studies and Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention

(CINEICC) Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra, Rua do Colégio

Novo, 3001-802 Coimbra, Portugal.

Email: drijo@fpce.uc.pt

912988IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20912988International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyRijo et al.

research-article2020

Rijo et al. 1423

Introduction

The efficacy of cognitive–behavioral group interventions in the rehabilitation of male

young offenders has been well established (e.g., Koehler et al., 2013; Raynor et al.,

2014; Trotter, 2013). Cognitive–behavioral programs conceptualize antisocial behav-

ior as the result of maladaptive (criminal) thinking styles (e.g., Walters, 2007). It is

well known that offenders use cognitive distortions when processing social informa-

tion (Chabrol et al., 2011; Helmond et al., 2015), and these program’s ultimate goal is

to promote a more adaptive social information processing, by reducing underlying

cognitive distortions (Antonio & Crosset, 2017; Brazão et al., 2017). Nevertheless,

research has also shown that early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) play a major role in

the onset and maintenance of antisocial behavior (e.g., Chakhssi et al., 2012; Gilbert

& Daffern, 2013).

EMSs have been defined as core dysfunctional beliefs that develop from early neg-

ative experiences with significant others, being elaborated throughout development.

Maladaptiveness comes both from the rigidity of this type of beliefs, which, when

triggered, led to misinterpretation and misattribution of relevant events (i.e., cognitive

distortions), and from the intense experience of schema-related negative emotional

states whenever a particular EMS dominates the individual’s cognitive set (Rafaeli

et al., 2011). For instance, if someone has been repeatedly physically and emotionally

abused by one or both parents/caregivers in early stages of life, she or he may develop

an EMS of mistrust/abuse. Later in life, the prominence of such EMS leads to an

increased selective attention to cues of possible experiences of abuse when in interper-

sonal contexts, thus facilitating the interpretation of neutral interpersonal behavior as

abusive (Brazão et al., 2017). Consequently, the person tends to experience schema-

congruent emotional arousal (e.g., humiliation and/or anger feelings) and tends to

behave accordingly (e.g., counterattacking).

A considerable amount of research (Calvete, 2008; Calvete & Orue, 2010; Chakhssi

et al., 2012; Gilbert & Daffern, 2013; Specht et al., 2009) found a positive association

of mistrust/abuse, insufficient self-control, and entitlement EMSs with antisocial

behavior in samples of young and adult offenders. A more recent study (Shorey et al.,

2014) showed that EMSs belonging to the disconnection/rejection domain, which

includes mistrust/abuse, abandonment, emotional deprivation, defectiveness/shame,

and social isolation EMSs, were positively associated with increased antisocial behav-

ior. These findings suggest that specific EMSs play a major role on the cognitive cor-

relates of antisocial behavior. Thus, EMSs should be identified as targets of change in

rehabilitation programs for offenders (Brazão et al., 2017). Schema-focused therapy is

currently being offered to offenders in forensic settings (Farrell et al., 2009; Giesen-

Bloo et al., 2006; Nadort et al., 2009; van Asselt et al., 2008), and has proven to be

effective in reducing schema’s endorsement, cognitive distortions, emotion regulation

difficulties, and aggressive behavior (Brazão et al., 2017, 2018a, 2018b; Keulen-de

Vos et al., 2013).

As previously specified, for an EMS to be maladaptive, it should elicit the experi-

ence of schema-related negative emotional states whenever triggered (Rafaeli et al.,