The empowering function of the belief in a just world for the self in mental health: A comparison of prisoners and non-prisoners

Abstract

The intersection of societal and psychological justice—people's reaction to corrective justice within the criminal justice system—provides a unique opportunity to understand more about how one's perception of justice relates to adaptive psychological functioning. In this study we explore the associations between the belief in a just world for the self (BJW-self), power, wellbeing, optimism, resilience, and psychological distress to establish whether the empowering effect of BJW-self functions to promote mental health similarly for prisoners and non-prisoners alike. Data was collected from a sample of female prisoners (n = 72) and a gender-, age-, and ethnicity-matched sample from the general population (n = 80). Path analysis indicated similar associations between BJW-self, power, and mental health for both prisoners and non-prisoners. Prisoners reported higher levels of psychological distress, but also higher levels of resilience compared to non-prisoners. The implications of our findings for the application of justice motive theory to those in incarceration and insight into the measurement of mental health in prisons is discussed.