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Career perspectives of male prison inmates in college courses
Journal of Vocational Behavior 19, 36-41 (1981)
Career Perspectives of Male Prison Inmates in College Courses MARK
A. WEISER AND RICHARD J. KLIMEK Montgomery College AND
BERNARD HODINKO American University The article presents a profile of college-attending prison inmates’ personality and vocational interests based on Holland’s theory of careers and an assessment of their attitudes that are critical in realistic career decision-making.
The first prison education programs in the United States were established in Philadelphia largely as a result of the concern of Quakers for social reform (Marsh, 1973). These early programs (1798 to 1870) stressed reading improvement and were intended to alleviate the inmate’s ignorance of God and thus remove the basic cause of his misbehavior. Over the years, prison education has changed in purpose and emphasis to allow the inmate to develop a skill or talent that will lead to employment or further education upon release from prison. In major federal and state prisons today, it features academic and vocational courses along with counseling, lectures, and discussions focused on enhancing inmate socialemotional development and career decision-making (Adams, 1973). Correction officials encourage inmate participation in prison education programs in that it appears that those who participate have a lesser chance of being reincarcerated after release (Wooldridge, 1976; Galley & Parsons, 1976). To maximize the meaningfulness of inmate participation, career counseling would seem to be imperative. The present study was designed to obtain information to facilitate the efforts of those engaged in career and educational counseling programs at correctional facilities. Its focus is on a particular segment of the prison populationAddress reprint requests to Dr. Richard J. Klimek, Counseling Department, Montgomery College, Rockville, MD 20850. 36 OOOl-8791/81/040036-06$02.00/O Copyright All rights
Q 1981 by Academic Press, Inc. of reproduction in any form reserved.
CAREER
PERSPECTIVES
OF PRISON
INMATES
37
male inmates who are enrolled in community college courses. Its purpose is to profile their personality and vocational interests based on Holland’s theory of careers (1973) and to assess the maturity of their attitudes that are critical in realistic career decision-making. METHODOLOGY Study data were elicited in the 1977-1978 academic year from 118 inmates in four correctional institutions in the state of Maryland who were enrolled in at least one community college course. The 118 were volunteers from the total population of 160 inmates in Maryland prisons enrolled in community college courses, hence, they represent a selfselected sample of inmates who are most interested in learning about their career-related characteristics. The typical inmate in the study sample was single (55.1%), black (61.9%), 27.5 years of age, had an educational grade level of 11.7, and had served 2.7 years of a 10.6-year sentence. The most frequent crimes committed by the inmates were robbery (52.7%), murder (16.0%), and assault (9.9%). Four inventories were administered to inmates in the prison setting by one of the researchers or a prison counselor: Career Assessment Inventory (CAI) (Johansson, 1976); Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) (Holland, 1965, 1975); Career Maturity Inventory-Attitude Scale (CMI) (C&es, 1973); and Personal Information Inventory (the writers). The CA1 inventories career interests on six general themes, 22 basic interest areas, and 42 occupational scales. Only the six general theme scales (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) were used in this study. The VP1 provides an assessment of career interest along lines of these same six CA1 scales and a measure of certain dimensions of vocational personality through five additional scales (SelfControl, Masculinity, Status, Infrequency, Acquiescence). The Attitude Scale of the CM1 elicits attitudes and feelings that are integral to career decision-making such as a person’s involvement in the career choice process, orientation toward work, independence in decision-making, preference for career choice factors, and the conception of the career choice process. The Personal Information Inventory asks for seven items of demographic data about the respondent. The significance of mean score difference between the inmate sample and the norm/reference group of each the CAI, VPI, and CM1 was determined through c tests. Two t test models were used: t, assumed equal and t2 unequal population variances. An F test was used to determine which model was appropriate for use in each test. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The career interests of the study sample of prison inmates and the CA1 reference group (750 adult males selected randomly from telephone directories) differed significantly (p < .Ol) with regard to five of the six
38
WEISER,
KLIMEK,
AND
HODINKO
general theme scales of the CA1 (Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional). Table 1 reports these data. For each scale the mean score for inmates was higher indicating that inmate interests in the areas these scales represent is above that of adult males in general. This finding is contrary to the belief that stereotypes prison inmates as individuals with a low interest in most conventional careers. It is noteworthy that the Realistic scale is the only one of the six for which the inmate mean score did not exceed that of the reference group nor differ from it beyond chance expectations. The Realistic scale represents occupations that stress outdoor work with hands and tools. The “Realistic” person prefers working outdoors and alone and is considered to be robust and rugged and to favor occupations such as mechanic, farmer, military officer, and forester (Johansson, 1975). This finding suggests that the inmate with at least minimal college experience has about the same interest in careers which allow for “hands on” kinds of activity as do men in general. Mean scores for inmates on the VP1 were compared with those of a norm population of 6290 male freshmen enrolled in 31 diverse postsecondary institutions in 28 states. The inmate mean was significantly different (pc.01) for five of the six VP1 vocational interest scales (Realistic, Social, Conventional, Enterprising, Artistic), as reported in Table 1. These differences are consistent with the cited CA1 data and substantiate a pattern of vocational interests of inmates enrolled in college study that is different than that of typical male college freshmen. The highest inmate score was for the Social scale, whereas that for the norm group was for the Intellectual scale. The greatest mean score discrepancies between inmate and reference groups on the VP1 was for the Social and Artistic scales, with the score of inmates being higher in each instance. The Social scale describes a person who is sociable, feminine, passive, and prefers to solve problems through feelings, while the Artistic scale identifies an individual who is original, feminine, imaginative, complex, unconventional, and introverted (Holland, 1965, 1975). These findings indicate that inmates taking college courses have a broader range of career interests than their college peers as well as important unique vocational preferences. Although the personality scales of the VP1 have low validity, the overall pattern of the scales in this inmate sample was what one would expect of those who have disordered or antisocial behaviors. Personality scale evaluations should still, however, be viewed with caution. On the five personality scales of the VPI, the mean score for inmates was significantly higher than that for the inventory’s normative group on two, Infrequency and Acquiescence, and significantly lower on one, Masculinity. The higher inmate scores are indicative that the inmates studied have lower aspirations than male freshmen in college and view the world differently. These findings are understandable for a prison
CAREER
PERSPECTIVES
OF PRISON
INMATES
39
population and could be important as predisposing reasons for their incarceration. The lower inmate “masculinity” score shows an unanticipated male preference for occupational areas traditionally associated with women. In corroboration, their high scores on the Social and Artistic scales relate to occupations that tend to attract women. The CMI-Attitude Scale mean score for the study sample of inmates (35.94) is essentially the same as that for the normative group of 12th grade students (34.78). This finding is notable in that although the mean inmate chronological age (27.5) exceeds that of the average high school senior by about 10 years, the inmate and high school senior levels of career maturity, as indicated by their conception of the career choice process, are similar. It points out the need for the inmates studied, whose educational level is above that of inmates in general, to “catch up” developmentally in the career choice process. There are vocational development theories (e.g., Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951; Super, 1953) which hold that career maturity does not occur until the decade of the 20s of a person’s life. Hence it is not unwarranted to say that if this population of prison inmates has a career maturity level equivalent to those of 12th graders, that they are in need of catching up with their own age group. The resulting implications for providing vocational counseling to prison inmates are apparent. SUMMARY
It is often assumed that by his early or middle 20s a man has made a firm occupational choice and is launched on a well-defined career. This assumption stems from the widespread but erroneous belief that development is normally completed by the end of adolescence (Levinson, 1978). It is particularly invalid for male prison inmates. Even those with some college background are developmentally in an early stage of career planning. Their pattern of career interests appears to be much more diverse than that of men in general and their sophistication in vocational decision-making is less. They need help to consider a wide range of educational and occupational options in addition to the traditional stereotypic vocations for exconvicts. The added burden of a prison record can be a limiting factor which adds a unique dimension to inmate vocational planning. An additional consideration is the reconciliation of strong inmate interests in social and artistic occupations, work traditionally associated with women, and the heavy so-called macho image within prison facilities. We can offer no hypotheses for such a reconciliation at this time, but point it out there as a matter for future investigation. It would seem important that inmates be given counseling assistancein the transformation of these distinctive considerations into a post-prison occupation. It is the writers’ contention that such help could markedly assist the released inmate’s life adjustment.
VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample
Group
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
SD
3.6 4.1 4.3 4.1 3.6 4.6 3.5 4.4 3.6 4.3 3.7 4.6 3.9 4.0 2.4 2.3 2.9 3.5 2.8 3.1 4.8 5.7
M
4.3 5.4 5.4 5.4 4.5 8.1 3.2 5.3 4.6 6.5 3.6 6.4 7.7 8.4 8.8 6.7 8.0 1.5 5.2 6.9 11.6 13.2 6.559*
-9.191*
1.981
.083
3.155*
t,”
2.946*
- 1.628
6.385*
4.586*
4.974*
8.217*
t2=
CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample
Group
a t, and t2are different models used to account for varying assumptions regarding population variances-t, and t, assumes unequal population variances. * p < .Ol.
Acquiescence
Infrequency
Status
Masculinity
Self-control
Artistic
Enterprising
Conventional
Social
Intellectual
Realistic
Scale t,=
8.88 10.42 9.76 3.508* 10.68 9.93 9.222* 10.17 8.91 10.82 10.15 5.162* 11.70 9.74 7.045* 10.42
SD
5.541*
- 1.738
B f2
assumes equal populations variances
54.38 52.58 51.25 54.69 47.75 56.86 46.85 52.81 50.34 55.65 47.17 54.04
M
TABLE 1 Means, Standard Deviations, and t Test Comparisons of the CA1 Male Reference Sample and the VP1 College Freshmen Male Norm Group with the Prison Inmate Sample
CAREER PERSPECTIVES OF PRISON INMATES
41
REFERENCES Adams, S. Higher learning behind bars. Change, 1973, 5, 45-50. Crites, J. 0. Theory and research handbook for the Career Maturity Inventory. Monterey, Calif.: McGraw-Hill, 1973. Galley, J. P., & Parsons, M. H. College behind the walls: Factors i&encing a postsecondary inmate education program. Paper presented at the National Convention of the Community College Social Science Association, Kansas City, 1976. Ginzberg, E., Ginsburg, S., Axelrad, S., & Herma, J. Occupational choice: An approach to a general theory. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1951. Harrison, F. K. The occupational interest patterns of the adult male offender. Master’s thesis, U. S. Bureau of Prisons Library, Washington, D.C. 1970. Holland, J. L. Manual for the Vocational Preference Inventory. Palo Alto, Calif.: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1965; 1975. Holland, J. L. Making vocational choices: A theory of careers. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Johansson, C. B. Manual for the Career Assessment Inventory. Minneapolis, Minn.: National Computer Systems, 1975. Levinson, D. Growing up with the dream. Psychology Today, January 1978, 11(8), 27. Marsh, J. J. Higher education in American prisons. Crime and Delinquency Literature, 1973, 139-141. Super, D. A. Theory of vocational development. American Psychologist, 1953,8, 185-190. Wooldridge, S. College for prisoners: Ohio’s open door. Change, 1976, 8, 17-20. Received: June 5, 1980.
Career Perspectives of Male Prison Inmates in College Courses MARK
A. WEISER AND RICHARD J. KLIMEK Montgomery College AND
BERNARD HODINKO American University The article presents a profile of college-attending prison inmates’ personality and vocational interests based on Holland’s theory of careers and an assessment of their attitudes that are critical in realistic career decision-making.
The first prison education programs in the United States were established in Philadelphia largely as a result of the concern of Quakers for social reform (Marsh, 1973). These early programs (1798 to 1870) stressed reading improvement and were intended to alleviate the inmate’s ignorance of God and thus remove the basic cause of his misbehavior. Over the years, prison education has changed in purpose and emphasis to allow the inmate to develop a skill or talent that will lead to employment or further education upon release from prison. In major federal and state prisons today, it features academic and vocational courses along with counseling, lectures, and discussions focused on enhancing inmate socialemotional development and career decision-making (Adams, 1973). Correction officials encourage inmate participation in prison education programs in that it appears that those who participate have a lesser chance of being reincarcerated after release (Wooldridge, 1976; Galley & Parsons, 1976). To maximize the meaningfulness of inmate participation, career counseling would seem to be imperative. The present study was designed to obtain information to facilitate the efforts of those engaged in career and educational counseling programs at correctional facilities. Its focus is on a particular segment of the prison populationAddress reprint requests to Dr. Richard J. Klimek, Counseling Department, Montgomery College, Rockville, MD 20850. 36 OOOl-8791/81/040036-06$02.00/O Copyright All rights
Q 1981 by Academic Press, Inc. of reproduction in any form reserved.
CAREER
PERSPECTIVES
OF PRISON
INMATES
37
male inmates who are enrolled in community college courses. Its purpose is to profile their personality and vocational interests based on Holland’s theory of careers (1973) and to assess the maturity of their attitudes that are critical in realistic career decision-making. METHODOLOGY Study data were elicited in the 1977-1978 academic year from 118 inmates in four correctional institutions in the state of Maryland who were enrolled in at least one community college course. The 118 were volunteers from the total population of 160 inmates in Maryland prisons enrolled in community college courses, hence, they represent a selfselected sample of inmates who are most interested in learning about their career-related characteristics. The typical inmate in the study sample was single (55.1%), black (61.9%), 27.5 years of age, had an educational grade level of 11.7, and had served 2.7 years of a 10.6-year sentence. The most frequent crimes committed by the inmates were robbery (52.7%), murder (16.0%), and assault (9.9%). Four inventories were administered to inmates in the prison setting by one of the researchers or a prison counselor: Career Assessment Inventory (CAI) (Johansson, 1976); Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) (Holland, 1965, 1975); Career Maturity Inventory-Attitude Scale (CMI) (C&es, 1973); and Personal Information Inventory (the writers). The CA1 inventories career interests on six general themes, 22 basic interest areas, and 42 occupational scales. Only the six general theme scales (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) were used in this study. The VP1 provides an assessment of career interest along lines of these same six CA1 scales and a measure of certain dimensions of vocational personality through five additional scales (SelfControl, Masculinity, Status, Infrequency, Acquiescence). The Attitude Scale of the CM1 elicits attitudes and feelings that are integral to career decision-making such as a person’s involvement in the career choice process, orientation toward work, independence in decision-making, preference for career choice factors, and the conception of the career choice process. The Personal Information Inventory asks for seven items of demographic data about the respondent. The significance of mean score difference between the inmate sample and the norm/reference group of each the CAI, VPI, and CM1 was determined through c tests. Two t test models were used: t, assumed equal and t2 unequal population variances. An F test was used to determine which model was appropriate for use in each test. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The career interests of the study sample of prison inmates and the CA1 reference group (750 adult males selected randomly from telephone directories) differed significantly (p < .Ol) with regard to five of the six
38
WEISER,
KLIMEK,
AND
HODINKO
general theme scales of the CA1 (Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional). Table 1 reports these data. For each scale the mean score for inmates was higher indicating that inmate interests in the areas these scales represent is above that of adult males in general. This finding is contrary to the belief that stereotypes prison inmates as individuals with a low interest in most conventional careers. It is noteworthy that the Realistic scale is the only one of the six for which the inmate mean score did not exceed that of the reference group nor differ from it beyond chance expectations. The Realistic scale represents occupations that stress outdoor work with hands and tools. The “Realistic” person prefers working outdoors and alone and is considered to be robust and rugged and to favor occupations such as mechanic, farmer, military officer, and forester (Johansson, 1975). This finding suggests that the inmate with at least minimal college experience has about the same interest in careers which allow for “hands on” kinds of activity as do men in general. Mean scores for inmates on the VP1 were compared with those of a norm population of 6290 male freshmen enrolled in 31 diverse postsecondary institutions in 28 states. The inmate mean was significantly different (pc.01) for five of the six VP1 vocational interest scales (Realistic, Social, Conventional, Enterprising, Artistic), as reported in Table 1. These differences are consistent with the cited CA1 data and substantiate a pattern of vocational interests of inmates enrolled in college study that is different than that of typical male college freshmen. The highest inmate score was for the Social scale, whereas that for the norm group was for the Intellectual scale. The greatest mean score discrepancies between inmate and reference groups on the VP1 was for the Social and Artistic scales, with the score of inmates being higher in each instance. The Social scale describes a person who is sociable, feminine, passive, and prefers to solve problems through feelings, while the Artistic scale identifies an individual who is original, feminine, imaginative, complex, unconventional, and introverted (Holland, 1965, 1975). These findings indicate that inmates taking college courses have a broader range of career interests than their college peers as well as important unique vocational preferences. Although the personality scales of the VP1 have low validity, the overall pattern of the scales in this inmate sample was what one would expect of those who have disordered or antisocial behaviors. Personality scale evaluations should still, however, be viewed with caution. On the five personality scales of the VPI, the mean score for inmates was significantly higher than that for the inventory’s normative group on two, Infrequency and Acquiescence, and significantly lower on one, Masculinity. The higher inmate scores are indicative that the inmates studied have lower aspirations than male freshmen in college and view the world differently. These findings are understandable for a prison
CAREER
PERSPECTIVES
OF PRISON
INMATES
39
population and could be important as predisposing reasons for their incarceration. The lower inmate “masculinity” score shows an unanticipated male preference for occupational areas traditionally associated with women. In corroboration, their high scores on the Social and Artistic scales relate to occupations that tend to attract women. The CMI-Attitude Scale mean score for the study sample of inmates (35.94) is essentially the same as that for the normative group of 12th grade students (34.78). This finding is notable in that although the mean inmate chronological age (27.5) exceeds that of the average high school senior by about 10 years, the inmate and high school senior levels of career maturity, as indicated by their conception of the career choice process, are similar. It points out the need for the inmates studied, whose educational level is above that of inmates in general, to “catch up” developmentally in the career choice process. There are vocational development theories (e.g., Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951; Super, 1953) which hold that career maturity does not occur until the decade of the 20s of a person’s life. Hence it is not unwarranted to say that if this population of prison inmates has a career maturity level equivalent to those of 12th graders, that they are in need of catching up with their own age group. The resulting implications for providing vocational counseling to prison inmates are apparent. SUMMARY
It is often assumed that by his early or middle 20s a man has made a firm occupational choice and is launched on a well-defined career. This assumption stems from the widespread but erroneous belief that development is normally completed by the end of adolescence (Levinson, 1978). It is particularly invalid for male prison inmates. Even those with some college background are developmentally in an early stage of career planning. Their pattern of career interests appears to be much more diverse than that of men in general and their sophistication in vocational decision-making is less. They need help to consider a wide range of educational and occupational options in addition to the traditional stereotypic vocations for exconvicts. The added burden of a prison record can be a limiting factor which adds a unique dimension to inmate vocational planning. An additional consideration is the reconciliation of strong inmate interests in social and artistic occupations, work traditionally associated with women, and the heavy so-called macho image within prison facilities. We can offer no hypotheses for such a reconciliation at this time, but point it out there as a matter for future investigation. It would seem important that inmates be given counseling assistancein the transformation of these distinctive considerations into a post-prison occupation. It is the writers’ contention that such help could markedly assist the released inmate’s life adjustment.
VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample VP1 college freshman Prison inmate sample
Group
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
male
SD
3.6 4.1 4.3 4.1 3.6 4.6 3.5 4.4 3.6 4.3 3.7 4.6 3.9 4.0 2.4 2.3 2.9 3.5 2.8 3.1 4.8 5.7
M
4.3 5.4 5.4 5.4 4.5 8.1 3.2 5.3 4.6 6.5 3.6 6.4 7.7 8.4 8.8 6.7 8.0 1.5 5.2 6.9 11.6 13.2 6.559*
-9.191*
1.981
.083
3.155*
t,”
2.946*
- 1.628
6.385*
4.586*
4.974*
8.217*
t2=
CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample CA1 male reference Prison inmate sample
Group
a t, and t2are different models used to account for varying assumptions regarding population variances-t, and t, assumes unequal population variances. * p < .Ol.
Acquiescence
Infrequency
Status
Masculinity
Self-control
Artistic
Enterprising
Conventional
Social
Intellectual
Realistic
Scale t,=
8.88 10.42 9.76 3.508* 10.68 9.93 9.222* 10.17 8.91 10.82 10.15 5.162* 11.70 9.74 7.045* 10.42
SD
5.541*
- 1.738
B f2
assumes equal populations variances
54.38 52.58 51.25 54.69 47.75 56.86 46.85 52.81 50.34 55.65 47.17 54.04
M
TABLE 1 Means, Standard Deviations, and t Test Comparisons of the CA1 Male Reference Sample and the VP1 College Freshmen Male Norm Group with the Prison Inmate Sample
CAREER PERSPECTIVES OF PRISON INMATES
41
REFERENCES Adams, S. Higher learning behind bars. Change, 1973, 5, 45-50. Crites, J. 0. Theory and research handbook for the Career Maturity Inventory. Monterey, Calif.: McGraw-Hill, 1973. Galley, J. P., & Parsons, M. H. College behind the walls: Factors i&encing a postsecondary inmate education program. Paper presented at the National Convention of the Community College Social Science Association, Kansas City, 1976. Ginzberg, E., Ginsburg, S., Axelrad, S., & Herma, J. Occupational choice: An approach to a general theory. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1951. Harrison, F. K. The occupational interest patterns of the adult male offender. Master’s thesis, U. S. Bureau of Prisons Library, Washington, D.C. 1970. Holland, J. L. Manual for the Vocational Preference Inventory. Palo Alto, Calif.: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1965; 1975. Holland, J. L. Making vocational choices: A theory of careers. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Johansson, C. B. Manual for the Career Assessment Inventory. Minneapolis, Minn.: National Computer Systems, 1975. Levinson, D. Growing up with the dream. Psychology Today, January 1978, 11(8), 27. Marsh, J. J. Higher education in American prisons. Crime and Delinquency Literature, 1973, 139-141. Super, D. A. Theory of vocational development. American Psychologist, 1953,8, 185-190. Wooldridge, S. College for prisoners: Ohio’s open door. Change, 1976, 8, 17-20. Received: June 5, 1980.