g.lewis@tees.ac.uk

1. Possible Selves and Internalizing and Externalizing Psychopathology: Patterns of Associations in Youths With and Without Criminal ConvictionsGwen Lewis & Robin BanerjeeUniversity of Sussex g.lewis@tees.ac.uk

2. Background • a third of young offenders in community and custodial contexts have mental health needs (Harrington & Bailey, 2005) • links with negative health outcomes(Piquero, Shephard, Shepheard & Farrington, 2011; Wiesner, Kim & Capaldi, 2005) • links with negativesocial outcomes (McClusky, Mc Cluskey & Bynum, 2006; Piquero, Farrington, Nagin & Moffit, 2010).

3. role of self-concept separately studied in psychopathology and youth offending (Abrams & Hyhn, 2009; Garaigordobil, Dura & Perez, 2005) • but little attention to the interplay of self-concept constructs, youth offending and mental health.

4. Possible Selves and Youth Offending • Possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986): • expected selves • future hoped for and feared selves • particularly salient during adolescence • Delinquent youths have: • Less achievement orientated possible selves (Lewis, 2010; Oyserman & Markus, 1990) • More negative possible selves (Oyserman & Markus, 1990) • Less balance between hoped and feared selves (Oyserman & Saltz, 1993) • Underdeveloped strategies to attain possible selves (Abrams & Aguilar, 2005).

5. Possible Selves and Psychopathology Externalizing problems and possible selves: • esteem enhancement models of delinquency (Cohen, 1955): • self-devaluating experiences  negative self attitudes  reassert a positive sense of self via non-normative, defensive, and aggressive strategies • cognitive theories of antisocial personality disorder (Beck, Freeman & Associates, 1990) and biases in social information processing (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1994) Internalizing problems and possible selves: • Cognitive perspectives on anxiety and depression (Beck, 1967; Clark & Wells, 1998) • internalizing disorders involve negative views of self, world and future as well as increased fears

6. Aims • Associations between possible selves and psychopathology in young men with convictions for – or at risk of – criminal offences • Strategies for achieving hoped-for and avoiding feared selves expected to be linked with psychopathology • Appraisals of possible selves expected to be linked with psychopathology • Positive beliefs about hoped-for selves should predict lower psychopathology • Greater perceived likelihood of, and worry about, feared selves should predict higher psychopathology • Possibility of moderation by conviction status?

7. Sample • 95 males aged 16-22 year old (Mean 18 years) • Ethnicity: 33% White, 53% Black, 10% Mixed, 2% Asian, 2 % Other • Recruited from: • Community schemes for youths at risk of crime (N=67) • NACRO training centres for at risk of/involved in the criminal justice system (N=14) • Young Offenders Institute (N =14) • Criminal convictions – 34% had convictions and 66% did not

8. Research Methodology Self report questionnaires: • up to three expected, hoped and feared possible selves • appraisals of hoped-for and feared selves in terms of: • perceived importance, • capability to achieve/avoid possible selves • likelihood of possible selves becoming reality • time spent thinking about possible selves • strategies to achieve avoid possible selves. • Externalizing and internalizing psychopathology - Adult Self Report (ASR) (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003).

9. Results Convictions and Psychopathology • Youths with convictions: higher on rule-breaking psychopathology Content of Possible Selves • trend toward less achievement orientated possible selves among those with convictions Feared Selves Hoped Selves ‘Becoming homeless’ Expected Selves ‘Stay healthy’ ‘Stop getting in trouble with the police’ ‘Unemployed’ ‘I expect to be employed full time’ ‘To give my son a better life’ ‘Back in prison’ ‘Get rich’ ‘I’m afraid of becoming to paranoid’ ‘In jail’ ‘Become a professional music engineer’ ‘Have a child’

10. Appraisals of Possible Selves Hoped For Selves • Composite score for: importance, capability, likelihood, and time spent thinking about hoped-for selves, a = .72 • Composite appraisal score negatively predicted Internalizing (b = -.25, p = .029) but not Externalizing (p > .10) • No evidence of moderation by conviction status (interaction terms, p > .10)

11. Feared Selves • Time spent thinking about feared selves predicted Externalizing (b = .27, p = .045) and Internalizing (b = .30, p = .021) • Capability of avoiding feared selves predicted Externalizing (b = -.25, p = .031) and Internalizing (b = -.31, p = .009) • Importance of avoiding feared selves significantly higher on average for those with convictions AND • Conviction status moderated the relationship between importance ratings and psychopathology (interaction terms, ps < .05) • Importance of avoiding feared selves associated with lower externalizing and internalizing, but only in those with convictions (rs = -.38 and -.42, ps < .05)

12. Strategies to Attain or Avoid Possible Selves • no interactions with conviction status

13. Implications • utility of possible selves interventions to increase school involvement (Oyserman, Terry & Bybee, 2002) and address drug abuse (Buirs & Martin, 1997). • targeted possible selves interventions to equip young people experiencing psychopathology with strategies to: • achieve their hoped selves • avoid repeated delinquent experiences. • key focus on increasing self-efficacy and the development of attainable hoped selves, rather than simply arousing fear

14. A Hopeful Note... • Young offenders often showed intricate conceptualisations of themselves in the future • possible benefits of providing a ‘hook’ (e.g., sport) to promote desistance from crime and offer avenues for alternative positive self definition • (see Lewis& Meek, 2012)

15. References Abrams, L. S. & Aguilar, J. P. (2005). Negative trends, possible selves and behaviour change. Qualitative Social Work, 42 (2), 175-196. Abrams, L. S., & Hyhn, A. (2009). Mapping processes of negotiated identity among incarcerated male juvenile offenders, Youth & Society, 41 (1), 26-52. Achenbach, T. M. & Rescorla, L. A. (2003). Manual for the ASEBA adult forms & profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Centre for Children, Youth & Families. Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. New York: International Universities Press. Beck, A. T., Freeman, A. & Associates. (1990). Cognitive therapy for personality disorders. New York: Guilford Press. Buris, R, S. & Martin, J. (1997). The therapeutic construction of possible selves: imagination and its constraints. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 10, 153-166. Clark, D. M. & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In R. Heimberg, M. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope & F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment and treatment (pp. 69–93). New York: Guilford Press. Cohen, A. K. (1955). Delinquent Boys. Glencoe: Free Press. Crick, N. R. & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information- processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115 (1), 74-101. Garaigordobi, M., Dura, A. & Perez, J, I. (2005). Psychopathological symptoms, behavioural problems and self-concept/self- esteem: A study of adolescents aged 14 to 17 years old. Annuary of Clinical & Health Psychology, 1, 53-63. Harrington, R. & Bailey, S. (2005). Mental health needs and effectiveness of provision for young offenders in custody and in the community. Retrieved from: http://www.yjb.gov.uk/publications/Resources/Downloads/MentalHealthNeedsfull.pdf Lewis, G. & Meek, R. (2012). The role of sport in reducing reoffending among young men in prison: assessing the evidence base. Forensic Update, 107 July, 12-18. Lewis, G. (2010). Conceptions of possible selves and adolescent drug use. (Unpublished BSc Dissertation). University of Southampton: Southampton. Markus, H. & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible Selves. American Psychologist, 41 (9), 954–969

16. References cont... Oyserman, D. & Fryberg, S. (2006). The possible selves of diverse adolescents: Content and function across gender, race and national origin. In C. Dunkel & J. Kerpelman (Eds.), Possible selves, theory research and applications (pp. 17-39). New York: Nova Science Publishing Inc. Oyserman, D. & Markus, H. R. (1990). Possible selves and delinquency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59 (1), 112 – 125. Oyserman, D., Terry, K. & Bybee, D. (2002). A possible selves intervention to enhance school involvement. Journal of adolescence, 25, 313–326. Piquero, A. R., Shephard, I., Shepheard, J, P. & Farrington, D. P. (2011). Impact of offending trajectories on health: Disability, hospitalisation and death in middle aged men in the Cambridge study in delinquent development. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 21 (3), 189-201. Wiesner, M. Kim, H. K. & Capaldi, D. M. (2005). Developmental trajectories of offending: Validation and prediction to young adult alcohol use, drug use and depressive symptoms. Development & Psychopathology, 17 (1), 251-270.