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Trauma, World Assumptions, and Coping Resources among Youthful Offenders: Social Work, Mental Health, and Criminal Justice Implications

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the extant literature by examining the relationship of traumatic and stressful life experiences among youthful offenders aged 18–24 years old. The sample included 38 youthful offenders incarcerated in the New Jersey Department of Corrections in 2008. During in-person interviews, youthful offenders completed a survey that gathered information on cumulative trauma, world assumptions, and coping resources using the Stressful Life Experiences Screening Inventory-Long Form, World Assumption Scale, and Coping Resources Inventory. A series of OLS regression analyses revealed partial support for the study hypotheses that cumulative trauma is significantly and negatively associated to youthful offenders’ basic world assumptions about the world having meaning. Opposite of what was expected, it was found that cumulative trauma was significantly and positively associated with spiritual coping resources among youthful offenders. These findings have important implications for developing and improving interdisciplinary and multi-level trauma assessment and intervention strategies with youthful offenders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, 113 West 60th Street, New York, NY, 10023, USA

    Tina Maschi & Thalia MacMillan

  2. Department of Behavioral and Historical Studies, Centenary College, 400 Jefferson Street, Hackettstown, NJ, 07840, USA

    Keith Morgen

  3. Gibson Social Research Group, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Sandy Gibson

  4. Department of Clinical Psychology, Fordham University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Bronx, NY, 10458, USA

    Matthew Stimmel

Authors
  1. Tina Maschi
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  2. Thalia MacMillan
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  3. Keith Morgen
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  4. Sandy Gibson
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  5. Matthew Stimmel
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Correspondence to Tina Maschi.

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Maschi, T., MacMillan, T., Morgen, K. et al. Trauma, World Assumptions, and Coping Resources among Youthful Offenders: Social Work, Mental Health, and Criminal Justice Implications. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 27, 377–393 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-010-0211-z

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