Comparison of self-esteem of prison and non-prison groups.

Abstract

2 prison groups made up of newly arrived prisoners and maxinum security prisoners, and 2 non-prison groups made up of psychology students from the University of Montana and rural church members were given a self-concept inventory. Self-esteem was defined in terms of the discrepancy between scores on the actual-self and ideal-self measures. The greater the discrepancy, the lower the self-esteem. The maximum security prisoners had the lowest self-esteem, the rural church group had the highest self-esteem, and the other groups fell in between. A positive correlation was found between self-esteem and time in prison. The greater the time in prison, the lower self-esteem scores.