Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31299/ksi.32.1.2
Coping with stress and mental health of prisoners
Martina Pleško
orcid.org/0009-0004-1136-7809
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences
*
Martina Lotar Rihtarić
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Prison is a high stress environment where an individual's mental health can be seriously affected (Mansoor et al., 2015). The way prisoners cope with stress is an important factor in examining the impact of the prison environment on their mental health (Gullone et al., 2000). The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between prisoners' coping strategies and their mental health within the framework of the health theory of coping (Stallman, 2020). The study was conducted on a sample of N=125 male prisoners who were in the Diagnostic Department of the Diagnostic Centre in Zagreb (M=40.08; SD=11.97). The Multidimensional Coping Scale (Duhachek, 2005) and DASS-21 (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) were used. Participants were also asked to rate the intensity of emotions they had experienced in the past week. The results show that only unhealthy coping strategies make a significant contribution to explaining prisoners' anxiety, while both healthy and unhealthy coping strategies contribute to explaining prisoners' depression. The results do not confirm the premise of the theory that the frequency of using stress coping strategies is negatively associated with the intensity of experiencing unpleasant emotions. The results are discussed in relation to the theoretical framework and their practical applicability.
Keywords
coping strategies; anxiety; depression; emotions; prisoners
Hrčak ID:
318573
URI
Publication date:
28.6.2024.
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