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Use of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles to Predict Disciplinary Adjustment in Male Inmate Program Participants

NCJ Number
215944
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 50 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2006 Pages: 166-173
Author(s)
Glenn D. Walters
Date Published
April 2006
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effectiveness of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) at predicting disciplinary adjustment among male inmates enrolled in psychological programming.
Abstract
Results indicated that only one of the eight PICTS thinking style scales, the Cutoff scale, was able to significantly predict total, nonaggressive, and aggressive incident reports in both samples over a 24-month followup period. However, when demographic variables were controlled, the Cutoff scale no longer significantly predicted total or nonaggressive incident reports. The findings suggest that high scores on the Cutoff scale may identify inmates who are at a heightened risk for future disciplinary problems. The study involved administering the PICTS to psychological program participants in 2 Federal prisons--a sample of 219 male inmates at a medium-security correctional institution and a sample of 191 male inmates confined at a maximum-security penitentiary. Participants were then followed for a period of 24 months to measure disciplinary problems. Disciplinary outcome was measured by the total number of incident reports, the number of nonaggressive incident reports, and the number of aggressive incident reports during the 24-month period. The relationship between the eight PICTS thinking style scales and the three disciplinary outcomes was tested using negative binomial regression models. Future research should examine whether the current findings are applicable to clients enrolled in community corrections programs, State prison populations, and female inmates. Tables, note, references