The Impact of Formal Education, Specialized Training, and Offense Type on Perceptions of Employability: Can Bias Toward Hiring a Person With a Criminal History Be Mitigated?

Though hesitations to hire formerly incarcerated individuals are often related to assumptions about a person's dangerousness, there remain legitimate reasons, such as limited formal education and basic skills, that prevent returning residents from finding work. Previous research suggests that hiring decisions are confounded by offense type, even if an employer would otherwise consider a person with a criminal history. Thus, it is unclear whether returning residents' level of education or training can mitigate barriers related to their offense history. Using hypothetical case vignettes of a formerly incarcerated job applicant, this study examined whether hiring decisions were influenced by education and offense type. A between-subjects design with a sample of 223 individuals recruited via MTurk was conducted. Results of this study were largely consistent with prior research suggesting that criminal history presents an obstacle when trying to obtain employment. Implications and future directions are provided in the discussion.

Changing criminal thinking: An examination of heterogeneity in treatment effects in a sample of justice-involved persons with dual diagnoses.

Recent studies have indicated variable reductions in criminal thinking for justice-involved persons with mental illness exposed to cognitive-behavioral treatments. To date, however, no studies have identified risk factors for limited response or modeled observed disparities in responsivity to interventions aimed at reducing criminal thinking. Using an archival data set of 162 probationers with a dual diagnosis who were exposed to changing lives and changing outcomes, a latent profile analysis modeled unobserved heterogeneity in treatment response per observed changes in criminal thinking. Most participants endorsed significant changes in self-reported reactive criminal thinking with minimal changes in proactive criminal thinking. Neither self-reported pretreatment severity of psychopathology nor self-reported compliance with psychotropic medication predicted response to treatment. Although diagnosis also did not predict responsiveness, more favorable views of treatment predicted greater decreases in criminal thinking. Moreover, those expressing fewer levels of criminal thinking after treatment were also found to express a decrease in attitudes supportive of violence. Limitations and treatment recommendations are discussed, including the need for correctional treatments to improve responsiveness to individual treatment needs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Individual and situational factors predicting employment status among revoked community-released offenders.

Finding and maintaining employment postrelease is an important component in reducing recidivism and promoting successful reintegration for returning citizens. The primary purpose of the current study was to identify and gain a clearer understanding of both internal/individual (i.e., attitudes toward work, criminogenic thinking, antisocial associates, general mental health) and external/situational factors (i.e., reliable transportation, possession of identification, Internet access, type of residence) affecting employment status using a sample of 75 higher-risk community-supervised offenders (employed: n = 33; unemployed: n = 42). Unemployed offenders endorsed higher reactive criminal thinking (indicative of impulsivity) than those who were employed; no other differences in criminogenic thinking or association with antisocial others were found. Perceptions of work volition were significantly different across groups; however, feelings of work alienation were not. Further, significantly more unemployed offenders self-reported having a mental health diagnosis (other than a substance use disorder) and endorsed statistically and clinically significantly higher levels of psychological distress as compared to employed offenders. Regarding situational factors, although no statistically significant differences were found between the unemployed and employed groups, those who were employed were twice as likely to have access to the Internet. Based on these findings, it is recommended that correctional vocational programs incorporate psychological and cognitive interventions, not simply focus on skills training and logistical considerations. Future directions for research are discussed, including the need to monitor job success over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Role of Individual Differences and Situational Variables in the Use of Workplace Sexual Identity Management Strategies.

Examination of individual difference variables have been largely ignored within research on the use of workplace sexual identity management strategies. The current study examined personality traits (extraversion, openness, and neuroticism), facets of sexual identity development (identity confusion, internalized heterosexism), and situational variables (e.g., perceptions of workplace climate and heterosexism) in explaining the use of management strategies, as well as possible interactions between individual and situational factors. Perceptions of the workplace climate toward lesbian and gay individuals significantly related to the use each of the management strategies, and Internalized Heterosexism was found to significantly predict the use of the Explicitly Out strategy. Most interactions between individual difference and situational variables were not supported, with the exception of an interaction between workplace heterosexism and internalized homophobia in explaining the use of the Explicitly Out strategy.

Teasing apart the relations between age, birth cohort, and vocational interests.

Empirical evidence supports that aging is related to differences in work attitudes and motivation (Inceoglu, Segers, & Bartram, 2012; Kooij, de Lange, Jansen, Kanfer, & Kikkers, 2011; Ng & Feldman, 2008, 2010), but little research has explored the relations between age and vocational interests. Furthermore, recent studies of age and work attitudes suggest that generational experiences (i.e., birth year) may account for age differences in the workplace (Inceoglu et al., 2012; Ng & Feldman, 2008, 2010), which in turn suggests that researchers need to incorporate both age and birth cohort effects in their designs. Thus, this study was designed to explore the relations of age at the time of testing and birth year to vocational interests using a sample of adults (N = 1,792) collected over a period of 3 decades. As expected, age was not a significant predictor of most interests, but birth year also was not found to predict most interests, with the significant prediction of Realistic interests by both age and birth year being the exception. Gender, however, significantly predicted most areas of interests. Neither age nor gender moderated any relationships between birth year and interests. Results suggest that birth year and age were minimally related to interests as all effect sizes were small. Discussion of the results illustrates the need for further research on this issue and also offers considerations for attracting and retaining different generations of workers in light of the findings.

Cognitive-behavioral group treatment for driving-related anger, aggression, and risky driving in combat veterans: a pilot study.

The present study examined the preliminary effects of an 8-session group cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) designed to reduce driving-related anger, aggression, and risky driving behaviors in veterans. Participants (N = 9) with self-reported aggressive and risky driving problems completed self-report measures at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 1-month follow-up. Of those completing the treatment, 89% demonstrated reliable change in driving-related aggression and 67% evidenced reliable change in driving-related anger. Similar changes were found for secondary treatment targets.

Development of a measure of drinking and driving expectancies for youth.

The present study constructs and provides initial validation for a measure of positive expectancies for drinking and driving for use with adolescents and young adults (PEDD-Y). In Study 1, items were generated through open-ended responses from high school- and college-age youth. Data collected from a 2nd sample of college students (n = 404) identified a 29 item, 4 factor questionnaire. Two of the PEDD-Y factors (Convenience, Avoiding Consequences) explained additional variance in drinking and driving behavior above and beyond other cognitions about drinking and driving. Study 2 extended these results to a high school sample (n = 185). Study 3 demonstrated test-retest reliability of the PEDD-Y in college-age youth (n = 165). These results provide initial evidence for the utility of the PEDD-Y in assessing drinking and driving risk in adolescents and college students.

Negative consequences and cognitions about drinking and driving.

OBJECTIVE: Drinking and driving has been found to be a highly persistent behavior, even after experiencing negative consequences, such as arrest. This study tested the association between consequences of drinking and driving and cognitions related to drinking and driving (e.g., attitudes, normative beliefs). We tested whether exposure to negative consequences was associated with perceptions of risk associated with drinking and driving. METHOD: Participants were 938 college students. The sample was 57% female and primarily white (86%). Questionnaire measures were used to assess alcohol use, drinking and driving behaviors, drinking and driving cognitions, and lifetime drinking and driving consequences. RESULTS: Results indicated that participants who had experienced consequences of drinking and driving (either as a driver or rider) reported more current drinking and driving and greater alcohol consumption. Analyses indicated that most cognition measures differentiated those reporting lifetime consequences from the rest of the sample, with the consequence groups reporting more risky cognitions. However, experiencing a personal consequence of drinking and driving was associated with perceiving negative consequences of drinking and driving to be more likely. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide evidence that most cognitive risk factors for drinking and driving remain high even after experiencing a negative consequence. This may contribute to the persistence of drinking and driving in prior offenders. The finding that the perception of negative consequences may be influenced by experiencing consequences may have implications for intervention and treatment efforts.