Structural and social psychological determinants of prisonization
This research examined the structural and social psychological determinants of prisonization among a sample of 239 male inmates in a maximum security prison. The study examined the process of prisonization more fully than has been done in the past by developing a theoretical model that integrates measures of importation, deprivation, and inmate self-conceptions. To date, the self-concepts inmates bring with them and sustain in prison have been a neglected aspect in the study of prisonization. The results of this study demonstrated that while deprivation model variables were shown to be the better predictors of prisonization, certain importation model variables were not without significant impact and the two models do explain more variance together than either one separately. Measures of self-conception were of limited value in predicting prisonization.