Belief in a Just World and Mental Well-being in Male Juvenile Offenders

768

Abstract

The study explores the characteristics of the relationship between the mental well-being and the belief in a just world among male juvenile offenders. 186 adolescents aged from 13 to 18 years (97 offenders and 89 law-abiding adolescents) were interviewed. Following methods were used for investigation of empirical constructs: “General Belief in a Just World Scale” (M. Schmitt, L. Montada, C. Dalbert), “General Belief in a Unjust World Scale” (J. Maes), “Belief in Immanent Justice Scale» (J. Maes)”, “General Belief in a Unjust World Scale Belief in Ultimate Justice Scale” (J. Maes), “5-Dimensional Belief in a Just Treatment Scale” (K. Stroebe), “Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale” (R. Tennart). Revealed that mental well-being of law-abiding adolescents is positively associated with only two sources of justice: belief in God – for common destiny and belief in self as the source of justice for personal and common destiny. Offenders’ mental well-being is accompanied by an extensive complex of positive relations with beliefs in general, immanent, ultimate justice and also by belief in a diversity of sources of justice (God, nature, other people, self and chance). The study also shown that offenders’ mental well-being is positively associated with belief in an unjust world.

General Information

Keywords: belief in a just world, adolescents, juvenile offenders, mental well-being, immanent justice, ultimate justice, sources of justice

Journal rubric: Empirical Research

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/cpse.2017060402

Funding. This work was supported by grant RFH № 15-36-01233.

For citation: Astanina N.B. Belief in a Just World and Mental Well-being in Male Juvenile Offenders [Elektronnyi resurs]. Klinicheskaia i spetsial'naia psikhologiia = Clinical Psychology and Special Education, 2017. Vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 19–32. DOI: 10.17759/cpse.2017060402. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Astanina N.B. Osobennosti very v spravedlivyi mir u rossiiskikh podrostkov [Features of Belief in a Just World among Russian adolescents]. Materialy IV Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii.Lichnostnyi resurs sub’’ekta truda v izmenyayushcheisya Rossii”. P. III: Simpozium «Lichnostnye transformatsii sub"ekta truda v usloviyakh otnositel'noi neopredelennosti» [Proceedings of the IV International Scientific-Practical Conference “Personal Resource of Labor Subject in Changing Russia”. Part III: The Symposium "Personal Transformation of the Subject of Work in Conditions of Relative Uncertainty”]. Kislovodsk, Moscow, 2015, pp. 15–20.
  2. Astanina, N.B. Belief in a Just World as a Correlate of Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents [Elektronnyi resurs], 2016, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 26–38. doi: 10.17759/psycljn. 2016050402 (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
  3. Astanina N.B. Vera v spravedlivyj mir u rossijskih podrostkov: gendernyj aspect [Belief in a just world among Russian adolescents: gender aspect]. Psihologija i pedagogika: metodika i problemy prakticheskogo primenenija: sbornik materialov HLIX Mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii: Chast' 1 [Psychology and pedagogy: methods and problems of practical application: proceedings of the ХLIX International scientific-practical conference: Part 1]. Novosibirsk: CRNS, 2016, pp. 22–27.
  4. Astanina N.B. Osobennosti very v spravedlivyj mir u nesovershennoletnih pravonarushitelej i pravoposlushnyh podrostkov [Features of the belief in a just world among juvenile offenders and law-abiding adolescents]. Kochenovskie chtenija «Psihologija i pravo v sovremennoj Rossii». Sbornik tezisov uchastnikov Vserossijskoj konferencii po juridicheskoj psihologii s mezhdunarodnym uchastiem [Kochanowska reading "Psychology and law in contemporary Russia". The collection of theses of participants of all-Russian conference on legal psychology with international participation]. Moscow: publ. of MGPPU, 2016, pp. 104–105.
  5. Astanina N.B. Istochniki spravedlivosti v mirovozzrenii pravoposlushnyh podrostkov i nesovershennoletnih pravonarushitelej [Sources of justice in the outlook of law-abiding adolescents and juvenile offenders]. Fundamental'nye i prikladnye voprosy gumanitarnyh i jekonomicheskih nauk: mezhvuzovskij sbornik nauchnyh trudov [Fundamental and applied questions of economic sciences and the humanities: interuniversity collection of scientific papers]. Voronezh: Voronezhskij gosudarstvennyj pedagogicheskij universitet, 2016, pp. 124–128.
  6. Astanina N.B. Chuvstvitel'nost' k spravedlivosti i psihologicheskoe blagopoluchie u nesovershennoletnih pravonarushitelej muzhskogo pola [Justice Sensitivity and mental well-being among male juvenile offenders]. Clinical Psychology and Special Education [Klinicheskaia i spetsial'naia psikhologiia], 2017, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 33–47.
  7. Astanina N.B. Svjaz' very v spravedlivyj mir i psihologicheskogo blagopoluchija podrostkov: gendernyj aspect [The relationship of belief in just world and mental well-being of adolescents: the gender dimension]. Izvestija Voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta [Proceedings of the Voronezh State Pedagogical University], 2017, no. 2 (in print).
  8. Bolotova E.D. Osobennosti prestupnosti nesovershennoletnih, ee dinamika i struktura [Features of juvenile crime, dynamics and structure]. Materialy VIII Mezhdunarodnoj studencheskoj jelektronnoj nauchnoj konferencii «Studencheskij nauchnyj forum» [Materials of the VIII International student electronic scientific conference "Student scientific forum"]. Available at: http: //www.scienceforum.ru/2017/2260/29491"> www.scienceforum.ru/2017/2260/29491</a> (Accessed 28.02.2017).
  9. Vaskje E.V. Jevoljucija prestupnosti nesovershennoletnih v Rossii: psihologo-pravovoj analiz [The evolution of juvenile crime in Russia: a psycho-legal analysis]. Moscow: Genezis, 2009. 428 p.
  10. Nartova-Bochaver S.K., Podlipnyak M.B., Khokhlova A.Yu. Vera v spravedlivyi mir i psikhologicheskoe blagopoluchie u glukhikh i slyshashchikh podrostkov i vzroslykh [Elektronnyi resurs] [Belief in a Just World and Psychological Well-Being in Deaf and Hearing Adolescents and Adults]. Klinicheskaya i spetsial'naya psikhologiya [Clinical and Special Psychology], 2013, no. 3. URL: https://psyjournals.ru/psyclin/2013/n3/64003.shtml (Accessed: 29.08.2016). (In Russ., Abstr. in Engl.).
  11. Pirozhkov V.F. Kriminal'naya psikhologiya: uchebnoe izdanie [Criminal psychology: educational edition]. Moscow: "Os'-89", 2007. 704 p.
  12. Astanina N. Belief in a just world, the sources of justice and mental well-being in Russian adolescents. 17 European Conference of Developmental Psychology. Program and abstracts. 2015. Braga, Portugal. Pp. 671–672.
  13. Dalbert C., Filke E. Belief in personal just world justice judgments and their functions for young prisoners. Criminal justices and behavior, 2007, vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 1516–1527.
  14. Donat M., Dalbert C., Kamble S.V. Adolescents‘ cheating and delinquent behavior from a justice-psychological perspective: The role of teacher justice. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 2014, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 635–651. doi: 10.1007/s10212-014-
    0218-5.
  15. Donat M., Peter F., Dalbert C., Kamble S.V. The meaning of students’ personal belief in a just world for positive and negative aspects of school-specific well-being. Social Justice Research, 2016, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 73–102. doi: 10.1007/s11211-015-0247-5.
  16. Donat M., Umlauft S., Dalbert C. Kamble S. V. Belief in a just world, teacher justice, and bullying behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 2012, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 185–193. Doi: 10.1002/ab.21421.
  17. Nartova-Bochaver S., Astanina N. Belief in just world as a personal resource in law-abiding and criminal Russian adolescents. The International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, 2011, London, 25-28 July. S18. 2. http://www.issid2011.com /program/symposia.pdf.
  18. Lerner M.J. The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York, 1980.

Information About the Authors

N. B. Astanina, PhD in Psychology, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Voronezh branch, Moscow Humanitarian and Economic Institute, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: astanina.nadya@yandex.ru

Metrics

Views

Total: 1850
Previous month: 5
Current month: 6

Downloads

Total: 768
Previous month: 2
Current month: 1