Vztahová vazba a copingové strategie u vězeňské populace

Objectives. The study is aimed at describing attachment and coping strategies in the prison population, and relations between these two variables were tested. Sample and setting. The sample consisted of 122 men serving middle-security sentences mainly for property crime. The attachment was determined by the Czech version of the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, and coping strategies were measured by The Stress Coping Style Questionnaire SVF 78. Hypotheses. The prisoners’ attachment and coping strategies were expected to be different from those of the normal population. The attachment anxiety and avoidance were expected to be related to coping strategies. Statistical analyses. One sample t-test and Wilcoxon one sample test were used for analyzing the differences in scores between the prison and normal population while the Pearson correlation and linear regression were used to test relations between variables. Results. Inmates were significantly different from the normal population both in their attachment and coping strategies. They exhibited higher attachment anxiety and avoidance compared to the normative sample, fearful avoidant attachment prevailed. Prisoners demonstrated higher Play Down, Distraction from Situation, Substitutional Satisfaction, Flight Tendency, Self-accusation, and Active Avoidance, they exhibited lower Guilt Denial and Rumination. Relational avoidance correlated negatively with positive coping strategies, relational anxiety correlated positively with negative coping strategies. Limitations. The main limitation of this study is the use of a non-representative sample and the self-assessment form of the methods employed.