Abstract
The main goal of the present study is to compare male offenders and non-offenders in terms of how they attribute meaning to life and set life goals. The samples were chosen from among offenders (n = 50) and non-offenders (n = 50) who were between ages 19–26. Mixed method was used in this study. The scale of setting life goals and interview form were used to collect data. To analysis of the data, the content analysis technique and t test and were used. Findings of the present study show that offenders tend to have troubles setting life goals when compared to non-offenders. Furthermore, the results of this study could be used in rehabilitating offenders and preventing those at risk of committing criminal acts from doing so.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ajdukovic, M. (1988). Value orientations of delinquent and non-delinquent youth and the needs hierarchy theory. Psychologische Beitrage, 30(2), 18–128.
Akers, R. L. (1991). Self-control as a general theory of crime. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 7(2), 201–211. doi:10.1007/BF01268629.
Baier, C. J., & Wright, B. R. E. (2001). If you love me, keep my commandments: A meta analysis of the effect of religion on crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 38(1), 3–21. doi:10.1177/0022427801038001001.
Battista, J., & Almond, R. (1973). The development of meaning in life. Psychiatry, 36(4), 409–427.
Baumeister, R. F. (1991). Meaning in life. New York: Guilford.
Beaver, K., Wright, J., De Lisi, M., & Vaughn, M. (2008). Desistance from delinquency: The marriage effect revisited and extended. Social Science Research, 37(3), 736–752. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2007.11.003.
Buss, D. M. (2000). The evolution of happiness. American Psychologist, 55(1), 15–23. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.15.
Carey, L. B., & Cohen, J. (2008). Religion, spirituality and health care treatment decisions: The role of chaplains in the Australian clinical context. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 15(1), 25–39. doi:10.1080/08854720802698491.
Carey, L. B., & Del Medico, L. (2013). Chaplaincy and mental health care in Aotearoa New Zealand: An exploratory study. Journal of Religion and Health, 52(1), 46–65. doi:10.1007/s10943-012-9622-9.
Carey, L. B., & Del Medico, L. (2014). Correctional services and prison chaplaincy in Australia: An exploratory study. Journal of Religion and Health, 53(6), 1786–1799. doi:10.1007/s10943-013-9788-9.
Cohen, M. A., & Piquero, A. R. (2009). New evidence on the monetary value of saving a high risk youth. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 25(1), 25–49. doi:10.1007/s10940-008-9057-3.
Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1999). Toward an evolutionary taxonomy of treatable conditions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108(3), 453–464. doi:10.1037/0021843X.108.3.453.
Deutsch, A. R., Crockett, L. J., Wolff, J. M., & Russell, S. T. (2012). Parent and peer pathways to adolescent delinquency: Variations by ethnicity and neighborhood context. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(8), 1078–1094. doi:10.1007/s10964-012-9754-y.
Ebersole, P. (1998). Types and depth of written life meanings. In P. T. P. Wong & P. S. Fry (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical applications (pp. 179–191). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Edwards, M. J., & Holden, R. R. (2001). Coping, meaning in life, and suicidal manifestations: Examining gender differences. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57(12), 1517–1534. doi:10.1002/jclp.1114.
Emmons, R. A. (1999). The psychology of ultimate concerns: Motivation and spirituality in personality. New York: Guilford Press.
Eryılmaz, A. (2010). Renew: Expansion of goals program for adolesonts with respect to positive psycholterapy and comprehensive guidance. Journal of Family and Society (Aile ve Toplum Dergisi), 20, 53–65.
Eryılmaz, A. (2011). Satisfaction of needs and determining of life goals: A model of subjective well-being for adolescents in high school. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 11(4), 1757–1764.
Eryılmaz, A. (2012). Investigating of psychometric properties the scale of setting life goals with respect to positive psychotherapy on university students. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (Klinik Psikiyatri Dergisi), 15, 166–174.
Eryılmaz, A. (2014). Meaning of life-setting life goals: Comparison of substance abusers and non-abusers. Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Journal (Türk Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Dergisi), 42(5), 235–243.
Fry, P. S. (2001). The unique contribution of key existential factors to the prediction of psychological wellbeing of older adults following spousal loss. The Gerontologist, 41(1), 69–81. doi:10.1093/geront/41.1.69.
Gibson, C., & Wright, J. (2001). Low self-control and coworker delinquency: A research note. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29(6), 483–492. doi:10.1016/S00472352(01)001118.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Heady, B. (2008). Life goals matter to happiness: A revision of set-point theory. Social Indicators Research, 86(2), 213–231. doi:10.1007/s11205-007-9138-y.
Johnson, B. R., Jang, S. J., Larson, D. B., & De Li, S. (2001). Does adolescent religious commitment matter? A reexamination of the effects of religiosity on delinquency. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 38(1), 22–44. doi:10.1177/0022427801038001002.
Kasser, T. (2002). The high price of materialism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
King, L. A., Richards, J. H., & Stemmerich, E. (1998). Daily goals, life goals, and worst fears: Means, ends, and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality, 66(5), 713–744. doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00030.
Klinger, E. (1998). The search of meaning in evolutionary perspective and its clinical implications. In P. T. T. Wong & P. S. Fry (Eds.), Handbook of personal meaning: Theory, research and application (pp. 27–50). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Linehan, M. M., Comtois, K. A., Murray, A. M., Brown, M. Z., Gallop, R. J., Heard, H. L., et al. (2006). Two-year randomized trial follow-up of dialectical behavior therapy vs. therapy by experts for suicidal behaviors and borderline personality disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63(7), 757–766. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.63.7.757.
Linehan, M. M., Goodstein, J. L., Nielsen, S. L., & Chiles, J. A. (1983). Reasons for staying alive when you’re thinking of killing yourself: The reasons for living inventory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(2), 276–286. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.51.2.276.
Mascaro, N., & Rosen, D. H. (2006). The role of existential meaning as a buffer against stress. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 46(2), 168–190. doi:10.1177/0022167805283779.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. doi:10.1037/h0054346.
Meek, R. (2011). The possible selves of young fathers in prison. Journal of Adolescence, 34(5), 941–949. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2010.12.005.
Munson, W. W., & Strauss, C. F. (1993). Career salience of institutionalized adolescent offenders. Career Development Quarterly, 41(3), 246–256. doi:10.1002/j.21610045.1993.tb00375.x.
Oyserman, D., & Saltz, E. (1993). Competence, delinquency and attempts to attain possible selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 360–374. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.360.
Pakiz, B., Reinherz, H. Z., & Giaconia, R. M. (1997). Early risk factors for serious antisocial behavior at age 21: A longitudinal community study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 67(1), 92–101. doi:10.1037/h0080214.
Pearson, P. R., & Sheffield, B. F. (1989). Psychoticism and purpose in life. Personality and Individual Differences, 10(2), 1321–1322. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(89)90245-6.
Peseschkian, N. (1987). Positive psychotherapy: Theory and practice of new method. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Piquero, A. R., Farrington, D. P., & Blumstein, A. (2003). The criminal career paradigm. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 30, pp. 359–506). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Prager, K. J. (1995). The psychology of intimacy. New York: The Guilford Press.
Reker, G. T. (2000). Theoretical perspective, dimensions, and measurement of existential meaning. In G. T. Reker & K. Chamberlain (Eds.), Exploring existential meaning: Optimizing human development across the life span (pp. 39–55). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Reker, G. T., & Wong, P. T. P. (1988). Aging as an individual process: Toward a theory of personal meaning. In J. E. Birren & V. C. Bengston (Eds.), Emergent theories of aging (pp. 214–246). New York: Springer.
Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. (1998). The contours of positive human health. Psychological Inquiry, 9(1), 1–28. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0901_1.
Savolainan, J. (2009). Work, family and criminal desistance. British Journal of Criminology, 49(3), 285–304. doi:10.1093/bjc/azn084.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York: Free Press.
Sheldon, K. M., & Bettencourt, B. A. (2002). Psychological need-satisfaction and subjective wellbeing within social groups. British Journal of Social Psychology, 41(1), 25–38. doi:10.1348/014466602165036.
Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction and longitudinal well being: The self concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 482–497. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.76.3.482.
Snyder, H. N., & Sickmund, M. (1999). Juvenile offenders and victims: 1999 National Report (Report No. NCJ-178257). Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Steger, M. F., & Frazier, P. (2005). Meaning in life: One link in the chain from religiousness to well-being. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(4), 574–582. doi:10.1037/00220167.52.4.574.
Steger, M. F., Oishi, S., & Kashdan, T. B. (2009). Meaning in life across the life span: Level and correlates of meaning in life from emerging adulthood to older adulthood. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(1), 43–52. doi:10.1080/17439760802303127.
Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Wei, E., Loeber, R., & Masten, A. (2004). Desistance from persistent serious delinquency in the transition to adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 16(4), 897–918. doi:10.1017/S0954579404040064.
Ward, T., & Marshall, B. (2007). Narrative identity and offender rehabilitation. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 51(3), 279–297. doi:10.1177/0306624X06291461.
Wiesner, M., & Windle, M. (2004). Assessing covariates of adolescent delinquency trajectories: A latent growth mixture modeling approach. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33(5), 431–442. doi:10.1023/B:JOYO.0000037635.06937.13.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eryılmaz, A. Comparison of Offender and Non-offender Young Men to Setting Goals for Life and Attributing Meaning to Life. J Relig Health 57, 1350–1362 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0478-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0478-x