[Person-environment correspondence and adjustment to conviction. Using a diary method].

Abstract

Thirty inmates of an Austrian (high-security) prison for men, ranging from those with sentences from two years to life, have recorded in the form of a structured diary (time sampling, approx. four times a day) for the period of thirty days whether they were feeling good or bad, how they would describe their mood, where they were at that moment, what they where currently occupying themselves with and who else was present. Data regarding personality characteristics, demographic data and descriptions of their physical and social surroundings were collected separately. The hypothesis is formulated here that the experience of a prison sentence, i.e. the coping strategies for dealing with the various stresses arising from the complete social control and the diverse deprivations within the "total institution" of a prison, is determined by personality characteristics (extraversion, neuroticism) and by the interaction between individual needs and that which the environment offers to the individual. The results show that the emotional condition in confinement can be better explained by factors of person-environment interaction than merely by personality or by environment factors alone. The results are discussed in the context of the motivational person-environment-fit model on the one hand, and with regard to the task of resocialisation on the part of the prison on the other hand.