Religiosity as a Predictor of Prisoners’ Adjustment: The Mediatory Role of Resilience among Inmates in South-West Nigeria

Abstract

The study of prison behaviour, particularly adjustment after incarceration has evolved with the cause of time and has ultimately become a veritable source for understanding how prisoners employ personal adjustment characteristics in their respective socio-cultural, and demographic variables These behaviours define the social position of inmates and provide a better understanding of the behavioural process that reduces the overall economic cost of adjusting problems within prison communities. The problem of adjustment is under-reported in commonplace within the Nigerian Correctional Service. The study determined the role of religiosity as a predictor of adjustment among inmates in southwest Nigeria: The mediatory role of resilience. Using a correlational survey design and systematic sampling technique, four hundred and seventy-eight convicts responded to the religiosity scale, resilience Scale, and Prison Adjustment Scale. Analysis of the data with Linear and multiple regression and Sobel statistics. Findings revealed that religiosity significantly predicted prisoners’ adjustment [β.14, t 2.85’, < .01], and Resilience significantly predicted prisoners’ adjustment β.18, t 2.25’, p< .05. Furthermore, the strength with which resilience mediated the existing relationship between prison adjustment and religiosity was significant. Thus, (Ƶ = 2.60, p. 01). It was recommended that prison management must include faith-based programs since it’s implicated as an important enhancer of adjustment among inmates as evidenced in this study. The program is essential in promoting or enhancing psychologically well-adjusted prison inmates.