**4. Results**

#### **4.1 Demographics**

The sample of the present study consisted of 150 male inmates whose age varied from 18 to over 56 years old. Slightly more than half (n = 78, 51.9%) of the participants were 26–40 years old while only 6% of the sample (n = 9) where younger than 20 years old. Nineteen (13%) prisoners were either 21–25 or 41– 45 years old and 24 (16%) were over 46 years old (**Figure 1**). Looking at the type of offense that resulted into their incarceration, the most popular crime was burglary/ robbery/theft (n = 36, 24%) closely followed by rape (n = 33, 22%) and (attempted) murder / manslaughter (n = 29, 19.3%). A relatively common offense was assault and cause of physical damage committed by 22 males (14.7%). Other types of offense driving unlicensed car, damage of property, and issues related to child maintenance (n = 17, 11.3%) (**Figure 2**).

<sup>2</sup> Cronbach's alpha (*α*) is a measure of internal consistency, that is, how closely related a set of items are as a group. It is considered to be a measure of scale reliability. Technically speaking, Cronbach's alpha is not a statistical test – it is a coefficient of reliability (or consistency).

<sup>3</sup> A reliability coefficient of .70 or higher is considered "acceptable" in most social science research situations.

*An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*

**Figure 1.** *Bar count of age.*

Regarding their religious affiliation, the vast majority of the sample (n = 132, 88%), considered themselves to be Christian, followed by those who had no religion (n = 11, 7.3%). Only 3 (2%) males identified themselves as non-Christian, two being Muslim and one in self-search. The length of the sentence they were already given followed the same pattern. 99 inmates (66%) were sentenced with up to 3 years of imprisonment and only 13 (8.7%) were serving sentences longer than 9 years (**Figure 3**). As far as recidivism is concerned, nearly 40% of the males (n = 57, 38%) admitted that they were incarcerated for the first time and almost all the remaining (n = 81, 54%) had been previously imprisoned 2–5 times (**Figure 4**).

Focusing on the family background of the prisoners, almost 1/3 of them (n = 51, 34%) were coming from single-parent families, while most of the remaining respondents had grown up in either extended (n = 38, 25.3%) or nuclear (n = 22.7%) family environments. The few remaining males were raised either by their sibling (s) (n = 10, 6.7%) or by a guardian, girlfriend or foster parent (n = 6, 4%). Those results matched the males' responses pertaining to who is being closest to them. Slightly more than half of the participants were feeling their mother as being closest to them (n = 77, 51.3%) whereas only 7 inmates (4.7%) had the same feelings for their father. Almost 10% of the sample (n = 14) expressed their loneliness replying that there is nobody who is emotionally close to them. Other people identified by the inmates as being the closest to them were their (girl)friends, grandparents, guardians or their therapists (**Figure 5**).

**Figure 2.** *Bar count of type of offense.*

#### **Figure 3.**

*Pie chart count of length of current sentence.*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Bar count of times of being in prison.*

#### **Figure 5.**

*Population pyramid count person being closest to by original household.*

#### **4.2 Conceptual questions**

Hypothesis 1 (confirmed): Male inmates are struggling to deal with their emotions due to past *abuse*.

*An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*

Initially, looking at the abuse patterns among the incarcerated males, almost 79.3%<sup>4</sup> (n = 119) males admitted of having at least one experience of physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse in the past. Among those inmates, 15 (10%) also had strong feelings of abandonment and neglect. More specifically, the majority (n = 81, 54%) of males had suffered an emotional abuse in the past, followed by those who were physically (n = 70, 46.7%) or sexually (n = 46, 30.7%) traumatized. Therefore, it was not a coincidence that the participants were predominantly facing sexual or relationship issues (58.7%, n = 88), while 33 of them (22%) were having depression and other mental health problems. Taking into consideration that almost all males (n = 148, 98.7%) were facing negative emotions, in their effort to deal with them, prisoners gave a wide range of responses. The most common way used to deal with their negative emotions was to withdraw from others and seek isolation (n = 101, 67.3%) or try to avoid what is happening by drinking and smoking (n = 82, 54.7%). The second most popular way males used to face their emotional issues was through blaming either themselves (n = 70, 46.7%) or others (n = 38, 25.3%). Only 1 inmate (0.7%) expressed a positive way in dealing with his problems, which was through religion, and more specifically, by talking to Jesus.

Focusing on the openness and willingness of prisoners to express their emotional issues with others, the vast majority of them were feeling comfortable doing so, but only with their fellow inmates. The main reason was that males in prison share the same emotional struggles (n = 71, 47.3%), and because they are not as tough and aggressive as they often show (n = 86, 57.3%). In fact, males thought that prison creates a great sense of bonding (n = 59, 39.3%), being all on the same (prison) level (n = 69, 46%). Almost 1/3 of respondents also highlighted that having less chances of being labeled a homosexual (n = 54, 36%) makes it easier for them to talk about their emotions.

Based on both parametric and non-parametric correlations, the type of abuse that most participants had suffered was found overall to be significantly correlated with the way they were currently dealing with their negative emotions (*p* = .000) and whether or not these males were feeling comfortable to talk about their emotional issues to others (*p* = .000). Looking deeper at those relationships, participants who were struggling to deal with their negative emotions were 9.7 times more likely to blame others (*p* = .009) and 5.8 times to blame themselves (*p* = .004) than the minority of prisoners who were not facing any negative emotions. Marginally significant was also the correlation between abuse and avoidance (*p* = .043), where previously abused inmates were almost 3 times more likely to avoid facing the negative consequences of past experiences than their non-abused counterparts (*see* **Table 2**).

Hypothesis 2 (partially confirmed): Male inmates who refrain from *crying* feel uncomfortable to talk about their emotional issues.

How often do you cry? 1/3 of the prisoners responded that they (almost) never cry (n = 52, 34.4%), while almost half of the sample were doing so occasionally (n = 69, 46%). Only 3 males (2%) admitted of crying on a regular basis as a way of venting off their negative emotions (before their incarceration). Once again, these figures were not surprising as the largest segment of the respondents believed that males are not supposed to show or talk about their emotions (n = 98, 65.3%), as an avoidance of acting like a woman and being labeled a homosexual (n = 94, 62.7%). On the contrary, males should be self-reliant/independent (n = 74, 49.3%) and focused on toughness and aggression (n = 89, 59.3%).

<sup>4</sup> Bearing in mind that participants had to opportunity to choose more than 1 reply, the figures presented here represent the Valid Percentages.


*a The reference category is: No.*

*b Floating point overflow occurred while computing this statistic. Its value is therefore set to system missing.*

*c This parameter is set to zero because it is redundant.*

**Table 2.** *Parameter estimates.* *An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*

Digging into the reasons why males refrain from sharing their emotions, the main issue that emerged was that of confidentiality and lack of trust (n = 125, 83.3%). Other, equally important issues were about persons being too judgemental (n = 88, 58.7%), and their subsequent feelings of embarrassment (n = 81, 54%). At the same time, the performance of multinomial regressions showed partial correlations between our dependent and independent variables. More specifically, inmates who were radically refraining from crying were more likely to avoid talking about their emotion issues to others believing that males should be more focussed on toughness and aggression than those prisoners who admitted of crying frequently (*p* = .027). In the same vein, both groups of participants who were almost never (*p* = .032) or occasionally (*p* = .020) expressing their emotions through crying were 3 times more likely not to do so for the same reasons of toughness and aggression as expressed by those who were never crying. An additional reason shared by the males who were almost never or almost always crying for not feeling comfortable to talk about their emotions (either to fellow inmates or to individuals outside of prison) was related to inner fears of being labeled as a homosexual (*p* = .032) or even perceived as acting like a woman (*p* = .020) (*see* **Table 3**).

Hypothesis 3 (not confirmed): *Family* can positively impact the lives of male inmates.

Exploring the impact of family on male prisoners, the participants were initially asked to identify who they trust the most. More than half of the sample responded their mother (n = 77, 51.3%). The second most common reply was "nobody" (n = 23, 15.3%), while the remaining responds were mainly scattered among their girlfriend (n = 5, 3.3%), their friends (n = 12, 8%), and eventually their father (n = 9, 6%). In continue, males were asked to mention who has helped them to deal with their emotional problems. Their replies followed to same trend. Again, 34% (n = 51) acknowledged that their mother had done so, but almost 50% of the sample (n = 65) now mentioned that nobody has ever assisted them with their emotional issues.

Before sent to prison or at the beginning of their current sentence, all males operated various ways to deal with their emotions. Few of them (n = 2, 1.4%) were signing and reading, while the majority (n = 81, 54%) sought help from God through praying, and others from psychologists though counseling (n = 65, 43.3%). 66 people (44%) also found exercising or playing a sport helpful in dealing with emotions, while a good number of them (n = 58, 38.7%) used to smoke, drink, and use drugs. Overall, males found it (very) difficult to talk about their emotions (n = 90, 60%) and just 19 (12.7%) of them thought it was (very) easy.

Looking at the possible impact of other people on the inmates' incapacity or unwillingness to share their emotions, no statistical significant correlation was given; hence, hypothesis 3 was not confirmed. As **Table 4** shows below, neither family (both nuclear and extended) nor other members from prisoners'social environment [eg. (girl)friends, therapist] seemed to influence, positively or negatively, the obstacles that males were facing in talking about their emotions to someone (average *p* = .913). Similarly, it was found that talking about emotions to other people was an insignificantly correlated factor in dealing with emotional issues (average *p* = .992).

Hypothesis 4 (confirmed): Male inmates have suicidal thoughts irrespective of any disparity between positive and negative emotions.

Seeking to measure the frequency of suicidal thoughts among the male inmates, a Likert scale question was added. The responses showed that a relatively high proportion of the sample (n = 68, 45.3%) were thinking of committing suicide occasionally ("Sometimes"), and the second highest proportion was these who never had such thoughts (n = 31, 20.7%). Almost the same percentage of people responded that they "Almost always" (n = 21, 14%) or "Almost never" (n = 21, 14%)



*aThebThis* *cFloating point overflow occurred while computing this statistic. Its value is therefore set to system missing.*

**Table 3.** *Parameterestimates.*

*An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*


#### *Criminology and Post-Mortem Studies - Analyzing Criminal Behaviour and Making Medical…*


#### *An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*


**30**


*An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*

> *aThe reference category*

*bThis parameter is set* 

*cFloating point overflow occurred while computing this statistic. Its value is therefore set to system missing.*

**Table 4.**

*Parameter estimates.*

**Talking about** 


#### *Criminology and Post-Mortem Studies - Analyzing Criminal Behaviour and Making Medical…*


#### *An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*



*An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*

> **Table 5.** *Parameter estimates.*

*cThis parameter is set to zero because it is redundant.*

have suicidal thoughts and only 4.7% (n = 7) have them on regular basis ("Always"). While in prison, males had the opportunity to visit a medical doctor or a psychologist, when needed. Some of them (n = 57, 38%) were finding the access to their service (very) easy, while for others (n = 55, 36.7%) was (very) difficult.

Moving from the descriptive statistics to multivariate regressions as an attempt to provide answers to our research questions, the data analysis as shown in **Table 5** confirms the initial hypothesis. Male inmates were, indeed, having suicidal thoughts irrespective of the similar frequency of positive or negative emotions they were experiencing. In other words, the frequent thoughts or intentions of male inmates in SVG to commit suicide were not related to the equally frequent positive (eg. joy, hope, kindness) or negative (eg. loneliness, depression, fear) they may have been experiencing.

#### **5. Limitations**

No empirical research is free of limitations; henceforth, such limitations should be acknowledged prior to any conceptualization of our hypotheses. Initially, it should be noted thatSt. Vincent and the Grenadines – as any given society or nation – has social norms and moral values that might be different or conflicting in another social sphere. It may be possible that some commonality still exists among institutionalized males or even among different nations within the Caribbean region. Though, these elements are not sufficient to ignore the issue of representativeness. Keeping in mind the exceptionally high percentage of the particular men who had experienced emotional and psychological distress in their lives linked to prevalent standards of manliness or masculinity taboos, as well as the regional cultural and ethnical diversity, it would have been scientifically imprecise to claim that the results are generalizable and that the present sample represents an area larger than SVG. In addition, given the relatively small – but randomized – size of the sample and population as well as the nature of the questions, conclusions were drawn with extreme caution. Due to conceptual and structural limitations related to constraints on generalizability, this study could not test complex theoretical models from the existing literature; yet, it helped us formulate more specific hypotheses for more definite future investigation.

#### **6. Discussion and conclusions**

Research evidence consistently shows high rates of unresolved issues among incarcerated samples. Our study provided evidence that emotional problems among incarcerated men in SVG is associated with a wide range of relational issues such as refrain from crying, suppression of feelings, lack of strong family bonds, and exposure to past abuse. Although, many respondents had the idea of ending their lives, the intensity of such thoughts varied greatly. There was no clear demarcation between those who embrace positive emotions and those who experience a weaker pull in that direction and vice-versa. Inmates having strong positive emotions also displayed a propensity for negative emotions falling the "sometimes" vacuum. Based on the inmates' responses, it was feasible to make a definitive statement that inmates find it hard to deal with their negative emotions due to past abuse. There is ample indication to show that sharing or dealing with negative emotions is very difficult for all inmates, either they had suffered an abuse or not. Due to intervening factors, with culture being the main one, crying accounted for one of the reasons

#### *An Analysis of Emotional and Psychological Issues among Males at the Correctional Institution… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93526*

why inmates may feel uncomfortable to talk about issues of emotional nature. By observation, those persons who were able to pick the issues that bothered them the most and talk about them were also not afraid of crying.

Historically, research attention has focused on the emotional and psychological needs or problems of incarcerated women (e.g. [26–30]), not those of men. This study findings call for further action; action to screen for and treat emotion-related traumas among incarcerated men. Treatment for emotional problems and their consequences inside correctional settings is pivotal; especially for incarcerated men – a largely neglected but serially traumatized population [31, 32]. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a programme whose focus is to address the issue of recidivism, mental health and to overcome behavioral issues, helping inmates to regulate their emotions, develop social skills, and address thinking that can lead to violence and criminality, such as aggressive or antisocial behavior has just gotten under way. The more obvious understanding to stereotypical behaviors is that the society has predetermined the course of males' emotional reactions. A conceptual "mold" has been created, which has gathered widespread acceptability. As Way [33] argues, the solution lies with exposing the inaccuracies of our gender stereotypes in which human needs and capabilities are given a sex and sexuality. The issue of males being able to reveal their emotions will remain a stigmatized issue unless academics and practitioners are willing to make the issue an urgent one.

In the meantime, helping men to work their way out of the dilemma of having to succumb to "suck it up", "man it up", "stop acting like a baby", "men don't cry" and other derogative emotive *clichés* that men have grown to hear and feel and have unwillingly accepted as their mantra, should be society's target. A viable solution might be recommending a shift in the outdated perception of "Man is Invincible" to "Man is Human Being" adapting the view that behavior that is shadowed by an unhealed wound as not being a gender specific issue, but more a human being issue. Man does not need more shame or stigmas attached to him, for that will certainly work to his disadvantage.

Family environment could play a viable role in desisting such shaming and stigmatization processes. Respondents put high premium on family and family values, as their deep sense of neglect and the limited interaction with their family members acted as a springboard to their delinquency. They were able to talk about how their families' aloofness and lack of caring created an emotional void inside them. A noticeable absence of family members' contribution to relationship building is that of the fathers'. Fathers played little or no role in the lives of the respondents. Generally, fathers have played a limited role in the lives of most Caribbean males, due to the high single parent household that are featured [34]. The extent to which this affect males when dealing with situations that warrant much display of strong emotions is relatively unknown.

### **7. Future directions**

We should also have a deeper look into the extent, complexity, and motives of those 120 male inmates who admitted of having some form of suicidal ideation in the past. Given the raising numbers of incarcerated men in SVG and the strength of these associations, targeted intervention is critical. To put this issue in context, the changing of our the local society's beliefs about males social and emotional capacities would never happen overnight, but invariably rely on the combined skills of educators and parents to help cultivate the inert capacities males possess [35]. This study also unearthed stimulating information for more in-depth research. It allowed for the collection of information regarding imprisoned males and their emotions

revealing the various components of those motions and their possible interrelationships. In the meanwhile, it is anticipated that the present study would contribute in fostering a research culture in prisons and at the same time stimulate individuals to address the pressing issues of health and wellness among the male population in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
