The impact of a brief structured intervention on young offenders masculine identity: a mixed methods study
| Published date | 06 August 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-11-2017-0042 |
| Date | 06 August 2018 |
| Pages | 173-186 |
| Author | Nicholas Blagden,Christian Perrin |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Criminal psychology,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Deviant behaviour,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice |
The impact of a brief structured
intervention on young offenders masculine
identity: a mixed methods study
Nicholas Blagden and Christian Perrin
Abstract
Purpose –Masculinity in young men can be considered a dynamic risk factor. However, there is a lack of
interventions designed to support men and young men to explore the ways in which the concept of
masculinity contributes to shaping their individual identity. The purpose of this paper is to explore young
offenders’perceptions of a programme designed to address masculinity and criminogenic attitudes and
evaluate whether the programme contributed to any personal change/development and what core learning
they took from the course.
Design/methodology/approach –The research utilised a mixed-methods approach to address aims
and objectives.
Findings –The quantitative results found that there was a pre-/post-course reduction in toughness and
increase in self-esteem and risk-taking perceptions. The qualitative results identified four superordinate
themes reconstruing masculine self-realisation awareness and reflection group dynamics and
course relationships and unintended consequences. The course-assisted participants in helping to
reconstrue aspects of being a man made them think about the future and allowed for participants to consider
their possible and desired selves.
Research limitations/implications –The research has policy and practice implications for brief
interventions targeted at young offenders.
Originality/value –The research evaluates a novel intervention aimed at addressing young offenders
masculine beliefs and identities. The research has implications for working with this client group.
Keywords Risk, Intervention, Anti-social behaviour, Masculinity, Youth crime, Youth offending
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Research has demonstrated that young adults (18-25 year olds) comprise one in ten of the
population, however, they account for one-third of individuals who are sent to prison annually,
with high rates of reoffending (Prison Reform Trust, 2012). Youth criminality, like adult criminality,
is gendered and as Silvestri and Crowther-Dowey (2008) have highlighted males account for a
much larger percentage of violent offences, sex offences and many other criminal behaviours in
comparison to females. Masculinity and masculine identity have been found to play an important
role in young men’s involvement in criminal behaviour (Whitehead, 2005).
Whitehead (2005) identified that masculinity may be a dynamic risk factor for male violence.
He argues that young men may experience anxiety around their masculinity being challenged, a
term labelled “masculine anxiety”, which enhances young males’likelihood of behaving violently
to reduce this anxiety. Masculinity has also been associated with a variety of risk-taking
behaviours including problem drinking, sexual aggression, violence and anti-social behaviour
(see e.g. Locke and Mahalik, 2005; Miller, 2008). Indeed, statistics reveal that young people drive
faster than adults, have the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases, have the highest rate
of self-reported drug use and commit the vast majority of crimes (Gullone et al., 2000).
Received 23 November 2017
Revised 5 March 2018
Accepted 9 April 2018
Nicholas Blagden is Senior
Lecturer at the Nottingham Trent
University, Nottingham, UK.
Christian Perrin is Lecturer at
the University of Liverpool,
Liverpool, UK.
DOI 10.1108/JCP-11-2017-0042 VOL. 8 NO. 3 2018, pp. 173-186, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829
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JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
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