Racial differences in violence and self-esteem among prison inmates |
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Authors: | Wayne Gillespie |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, East Tennessee State University, 37614 Johnson City, TN |
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Abstract: | Recent scholarship in social psychology suggests that individuals with an elevated sense of self-esteem may respond aggressively
or violently when this heightened egoism is threatened. The present study explores differences in self-esteem, aggression,
and violent behavior among a sample of 644 male state prison inmates. The results indicated that Black inmates expressed higher
levels of self-esteem than White inmates. Although Blacks and Whites did not differ on a psychological measure of aggressive
personality, Black prisoners reported more violent behavior than Whites. Moreover, high self-esteem predicted violent behavior
inside prison, but only for Whites. This finding suggests that the relationship between high self-esteem and violence may
be race-specific. |
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Keywords: | |
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