Do offenders' life goals reflect locus of control and personality traits?
According to the Good Lives Model (Ward, 2002) it is imperative that offenders in rehabilitation recognize which life goals are important to them and how they can achieve a 'good life. Including the evaluation of life goals in treatment can be beneficial not only for the individuals being treated but for the community into which they are transitioning. Seventy six male, residential offenders were assessed on type and perception of life goals during semi structured interviews. They also completed a personality inventory, locus of control scale, and self esteem scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses for types of goals and perception of goals were conducted to examine the hypothesized predictions. Results indicate that higher levels of openness and an internal locus of control predicted the presence of personal growth goals, and emotional stability is the strongest predictor of positive goal perception for this offender sample. Findings from this study have implications for the use of goals and the importance of emotional stability in treatment of offenders.