Peer victimization, prison climate, resilience and psychological distress of incarcerated juvenile offenders in Ghana: A serial mediation examination.

Journal: Journal of forensic and legal medicine

Volume: 91

Issue: 

Year of Publication: 2022

Affiliated Institutions:  Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Ghana; Department of Psychiatry, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana. Electronic address: kinetic@hotmail.com. Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Ghana. Department of Mental Health, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Abstract summary 

Most Ghanaian research in the area of victimization among children has focused on the school setting. Little research has been done in an attempt to understand inmate-on-inmate victimization within the juvenile correctional facilities in Ghana. This study, therefore, investigated the extent to which peer victimization influences psychological distress among juvenile offenders in the Senior Correctional Center of Ghana. A cross-sectional design was used to purposively sample 115 juvenile offenders for the study. Following mediation analysis performed in PROCESS, the results revealed that prison climate and resilience serially mediated the relationship between peer victimization and psychological distress. Independently, both prison climate and resilience mediated the relationship between peer victimization and psychological distress. It was recommended that anti-bullying programs ought to be institutionalized to create mental health awareness within the correctional facilities. Also, support systems such as the Listener Scheme need to be deployed within the correctional facilities.

Authors & Co-authors:  Owusu Ansah Kenneth K Atindanbila Samuel S Doku Paul Narh PN Osei Owusu Jessica J Agyemang Duah Caleb C Pharin Francis F Fosu Morrison M

Study Outcome 

Source Link: Visit source

Statistics
Citations : 
Authors :  7
Identifiers
Doi : 10.1016/j.jflm.2022.102407
SSN : 1878-7487
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Child
Other Terms
Juvenile offenders;Prison climate;Psychological distress;Resilience;Victimization
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
Ghana
Publication Country
England