Attachment Styles and Impulsivity as Predictors of Offenders Status (Recidivism and None Recidivism) Among Inmates in Awka Correctional Service

Abstract

Imprisonment has been observed to be the universal approach in managing violent offenders; as such, a global language in crime fighting especially, when dealing with violent offenders. Some offers abstain from crime after serving their prior sentence while many others become more though; committing many other crimes leading to reconviction. Thus, the present study examined whether attachment styles and impulsivity as predictors of recidivism among inmates of Awka. 103 inmates in Awka Correctional Service  participated in this study and they were all Christians and all male. Their age ranged from 18 to 45 years with mean age  of 30.3 and standard deviation of 8.8. Two instruments were used for data collection: Adult Attachment Scale and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. The research design was a correlational design while Binary logistic regression was used for data analysis. The result showed that attachment style such as close and anxiety attachment styles significantly predicted offenders status respectively, (close, (β) = .188; Exp (OR) = 1.205 with 95% CI (1.029, 1.415)); anxiety (β = -.532; OR = .588 with 95% CI (.433, .798)). However, depend was not associated with any increase in offenders status. Impulsivity was observed to significantly predicted offender’s status at (β = -.090; OR = .914 with 95% CI (.861, .969)). Lastly, attachment styles and impulsivity jointly predicted offender’s status at χ2(8, 103) = 49.984, p < .01. Hence, it was recommended that family members of inmates should pay more attention to their psychological needs.