TTLA: Psychological adaptation of female prisoners to serving a fixed-term prison sentence in prison

Author name: Pham Thi Thuc Oanh

Thesis title: Psychological adaptation of female prisoners to serving a fixed-term prison sentence in prison

Dissertation field: Psychology

Major: Psychology Code: 62310401

Name of the postgraduate training unit: University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

1. Purpose and research objects of the thesis

1.1. Research purpose:

Specify the current psychological adaptation status of female prisoners to the execution of fixed-term prison sentences in prison; factors affecting female prisoners' psychological adaptation; propose solutions to improve female prisoners' psychological adaptation ability to the execution of fixed-term prison sentences in prison, helping female prisoners' psychological adaptation to be more effective.

1.2. Research subjects:

Expression and level of female prisoners' relationship with limited-term probation in prison.

2. Research methods used

The thesis uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods including: Document research method, Questionnaire investigation method, In-depth interview method, Statistical data processing method, Observation method, Psychological portrait analysis method. The research sample is 555 female prisoners on temporary CHAPT at 3 prisons in the North of Vietnam.

3. Main results and conclusions

3.1. Main results

- The results show that many female prisoners have a low level of psychological adaptation. The number of people with a high level of adaptation is very small. This is shown by the fact that 90.1% of female prisoners have adaptation at a below average level, that is, they can adapt to less than 50% of the requirements of serving a prison sentence.

-On cognitive adaptation, the majority of female prisoners (85.0%) achieved a below average level of adaptation, that is, only achieving from 25 to less than 50% of the requirements; in which cognitive adaptation was at a higher level than awareness of labor activities. Thus, although they had certain changes in cognition towards accepting the regulations, that change was not significant.

- About emotional adaptation,Up to 63.1% of female prisoners had low emotional adaptation, which means they only achieved less than 25% of the requirements of serving their sentences. The results showed that although female prisoners felt more comfortable and emotionally balanced compared to the first day of entering prison, they still mainly achieved low levels. Among the contents, emotional adaptation was the content that most prisoners accepted to implement and had emotional balance.

-Regarding behavioral adaptation,79.2% of the total number of female prisoners achieved a level of adaptation to less than 50% of the requirements, no female prisoner achieved a low level of adaptation. Of which, female prisoners performed well in the requirements of working days, labor norms and labor operations with an average level > 0.6.

- The psychological adaptation components of female prisoners have a positive correlation from moderate to strong. In which, cognitive adaptation and emotional adaptation have a strong correlation with general adaptation (p < 0.01; r > 0.8), showing that the lower the cognitive adaptation and emotional adaptation of female prisoners, the lower the general adaptation and vice versa.

- When considering the prediction of factors affecting the psychological adaptation of female prisoners, it shows that only factors related to the individual female prisoner have the greatest influence on the psychological adaptation of female prisoners. In particular, other factors such as false perception of the law (p = 0.013); belief (p = 0.001); level of depression-anxiety (p = 0.048 and p = 0.002) have an impact, a negative influence on psychological adaptation. In addition, family care (p = 0.019), time served in prison (p = 0.000) have a positive influence on the psychological adaptation of female prisoners.

3.2. Conclusion

- The majority of female prisoners adapted to less than 50% of the requirements of serving their prison sentences. This shows that female prisoners have a below-average level of psychological adaptation in all three aspects of cognition, emotion and behavior. In particular, female prisoners have a higher score on behavioral adaptation than both cognitive adaptation and emotional adaptation.

- The correlation between the aspects of psychological adaptation is positive and with the correlation level from moderate to strong, especially the correlation between cognitive adaptation, emotional adaptation and general psychological adaptation.

- The psychological adaptation of female prisoners is influenced by many different factors in both positive and negative directions. Female prisoners who are aware of the consequences of their actions and have served more than 1 year in prison have better psychological adaptation. On the contrary, female prisoners who have regular family visits and believe that they will be released soon, and have depression and anxiety disorders have lower psychological adaptation than female prisoners who do not have these characteristics.

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS

The author's name: Pham Thi Thuc Oanh

Thesis title: Psychological adaptation of female offenders to execution term imprisonment at the prison

Scientific branch of the thesis: Psychology

Major: Psychology Code: 62310401

The name of postgraduate training institution: University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Hanoi National University.

1. The purpose and the object of the thesis

1.1. Research purposes: Specify the status of Psychological adaptation (PA) of female offenders to execution term imprisonment (ETI) at the prison; The factors affecting the PA of female offenders; solutions proposed to improve the PA of female offenders to ETI at the prison; help ETI reach higher efficiency.

1.2. Research subjects: Expressing the level of PA of female offenders to ETI at the prison.

2. Research methods:

The thesis uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods including:

Methods of document research, Methods of the investigation by questionnaires, Methods of indepth interviews, Methods of data processing by mathematical statistics, Methods of observation, Methods of psychological portrait analysis. The research sample is 555 female offenders who are execution term imprisonment in 3 prisons in the North, Vietnam.

3. Main results and conclusions

3.1. Main results:

- The results show that many female offenders have a psychological adaptation level at a low point. The number of people with high levels of adaptation is very small. This is reflected in the fact that 90.1% of female offenders adapt to a below average level, which is below 50% of the requirements of execution term imprisonment.

- In terms of awareness, the majority of female offenders (85.0%) reach the below-average adaptation level, ie, only between 25 and under 50% of the requirements set; in which cognitive adaptation is higher than awareness of labor activities. Thus, even though they have made certain changes in terms of awareness in terms of accepting the regulations, the change is not significant.

- In terms of emotions, up to 63.1% of female offenders were able to adapt to emotions at a low level, which only achieved less than 25% of the sentence requirements. The results show that although female prisoners were more comfortable, emotional balance compared to the first day in prison but still only reached the low level mainly. Emotional adaptation, among other things, is the content that many prisoners accept to do and balance emotionally better.

- In terms of behavior, there are 79.2% of female offenders reaching the level of adaptation to less than 50% of the requirements, no female offenders reach the low adaptation level. In particular, female offenders performed at a good level with respect to workday requirements, labor norms and labor operations with the average score > 0.6.

- The psychological adaptation components of female offenders are correlated pros from medium to strong. In particular, cognitive adaptation and emotional adaptation are strongly correlated with general adaptation (p < 0.01; r > 0.8) showing that female prisoners have lower levels of cognitive adaptation and emotional adaptation, lower general adaptation, and vice versa.

- Considering the prediction of factors affecting the psychological adaptation of female offenders, only the factors belonging to female offenders are the most influential to the psychological adaptation of female offenders. In particular, other factors such as misconceptions about the law (p = 0.013); beliefs (p = 0.001); The level of depression-anxiety (p = 0.048 and p = 0.002) has an impact, significantly affecting psychological adaptation. In addition, the family's concerns (p = 0.019), the time of serving the prison sentence (p = 0.000) positively affects the psychological adaptation of female prisoners.

3.2. Conclusion

- Most female offenders adapt to less than 50% of the requirements of serving imprisonment sentences. This suggests that female inmates have a sub-moderate level of psychological adaptation expressed in all three aspects of cognition, emotion, and behavior. In particular, female offenders have a higher level of behavioral adaptation scores than those of cognitive adaptation and emotional adaptation.

- The correlation between the aspects of psychological adaptation is correlated pros with the degree correlation from moderate to tight, especially the correlation between cognitive adaptation, emotional adaptation, and general psychology adaptation.

- The psychological adaptation of female offenders affected by many different factors in both directions is pros correlation and inverse correlation. Female offenders who are aware of the consequences of their behavior and have served more than one year in prison have better psychological adaptability. In contrast, female offenders who frequently visited by family and have faith will soon be released from prison, have depression-anxiety disorders have lower psychological adaptability than female prisoners without that characteristic.