Jeffrey Stuewig

Jeffrey Stuewig
George Mason University | GMU · Department of Psychology

Ph.D.

About

62
Publications
51,042
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6,971
Citations
Additional affiliations
June 2002 - present
George Mason University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)

Publications

Publications (62)
Article
Rates of multiple episodes of suicide spectrum behaviors are higher among incarcerated individuals than community members. Understanding the trajectory of multiple episodes of suicide spectrum behavior is important for assessment of risk and precautionary measures. We examined escalation in terms of frequency and method among 204 incarcerated indiv...
Article
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) commonly co-occur across various settings. However, little research has examined how BPD features relate to specific types of SUDs. This study examined whether BPD features assessed shortly after incarceration were differentially related to symptoms of dependence on alcohol, c...
Article
Introduction: Trait self-control is one of the most robust predictors of important life outcomes. Recent evidence suggests at least two domains of self-control: inhibitory self-control (refraining from more attractive but goal-inconsistent behaviors) and initiatory self-control (engaging in and persisting in less attractive but goal-consistent beha...
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Full-text available
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is common in jails and prisons. In a sample of 506 jail inmates (30% female), we examined whether BPD symptoms assessed upon incarceration predict subsequent institutional misconduct and treatment-seeking. BPD features modestly predicted occurrence (vs. nonoccurrence) of institutional misconduct. Importantly, B...
Chapter
Women represent a small subset of the incarcerated population, but this does not prevent them from being trapped in the revolving door of the criminal justice system. Because women with children represent the vast majority of incarcerated women, continued criminal justice involvement has critical implications for children and families. Yet little i...
Article
Aims Many factors affect the utility and practicality of measures in longitudinal studies characterized by transient participants such as those caught in the cycle of incarceration. The current study evaluated the psychometric equivalency of a visual and a verbal version of a single‐item connectedness measure; the aim was to determine whether the d...
Article
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Incarceration separates individuals from their families and communities, strictly limiting and controlling contact with the outside world. Despite these barriers, those who maintain contact with their families during incarceration tend to function more adaptively postrelease. Within a longitudinal framework, the current study examines mechanisms (i...
Article
Purpose: Self-reports are integral to the understanding of a variety of behavioral phenomena, with arrest history being no exception. The current study investigated how accurate self-reports of arrest are when compared to official arrest records, and we also assessed several new predictors of self-report accuracy. Methods: In a sample of 339 former...
Article
This study assessed whether psychopathy and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms are differentially related to three drinking motives: coping, enhancement, and social. Participants were 170 inmates (74% male) initially held on felony charges in a suburban jail. The Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV; Hart et al., 1995) and B...
Article
Jails bring inmates into proximity with one another and separate them from the community. Because inmates’ connectedness to one another and to the community influences post-release functioning, understanding risk factors for maladaptive shifts in connectedness may inform interventions. The current study examined changes in jail inmates’ (N = 203) c...
Article
Research on changes in community integration from pre- to post-incarceration has primarily focused on employment and is mixed, showing both deterioration and improvement. Research is needed to examine change in other areas, as well as predictive individual-level factors. We assessed changes in jail inmates’ (n = 334) employment, source of income, r...
Article
The notion that high psychopathy inmates seek treatment for nontherapeutic reasons is frequently assumed but lacking empirical evidence. In a sample of 217 jail inmates, we examined whether psychopathy differentially predicted treatment-seeking during incarceration versus postrelease. Overall, analyses revealed psychopathic inmates did not artifici...
Article
In recent years, mindfulness-based interventions have been modified for use with inmate populations, but how this might relate to specific criminogenic cognitions has not been examined empirically. Theoretically, characteristics of mindfulness should be incompatible with distorted patterns of criminal thinking, but is this in fact the case? Among b...
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PurposeThe current study examined gender differences in pathways bridging childhood exposure to family violence, adolescent family relationships, adolescent depression, and juvenile delinquency. Methods The study follows 296 families participating in a longitudinal study on the impact of exposure to family violence on child development. The present...
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This study pilot-tested a values and mindfulness-based intervention (Re-Entry Values and Mindfulness Program: REVAMP) in a sample of male jail inmates. REVAMP aimed to reduce post-release risky behavior by targeting dimensions of mindfulness (e.g., willingness/acceptance) and associated proximal outcomes/ mechanisms of action (emotion regulation, s...
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Is the relationship between criminal thinking and recidivism the same for criminal justice–involved individuals from varying demographic backgrounds? Relying on two independent samples of offenders and two measures of criminal thinking, the current studies examined whether four demographic factors—gender, race, age, and education—moderated the rela...
Article
Purpose: To assess changes in inmates' misuse of substances from pre- to post-incarceration. Methods: In Study 1, professionals (n = 162) and laypersons (n = 50) predicted how jail inmates' substance misuse would change from pre-incarceration to post-release. In Study 2, a longitudinal study of 305 jail inmates, we examined actual changes in sub...
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Upon conviction, individuals receive the stigmatizing label “criminal offender.” Existing stereotypes about criminal offenders may be integrated into the self-concept, a phenomenon known as self-stigma. In many stigmatized groups, self-stigma is a robust predictor of poor functioning (Livingston & Boyd, 2010; Schomerus et al., 2011). However, littl...
Article
Research has rarely considered criminal offenders’ psychological responses to stigma, but these responses may significantly influence behavior after release from jail/prison. Jail inmates’ perceived and anticipated stigma was assessed prior to release from jail/prison (N = 163), and outcomes were assessed one year post-release (N = 371). We hypothe...
Article
Connectedness to one's community relates to positive psychological and behavioral outcomes. But what implications do connectedness to distinct communities—the criminal community and the community at large—have for inmates about to be released from jail? This study (N = 383) prospectively examined connectedness to the criminal community and communit...
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The present study explored the relationship between borderline personality disorder (BPD) features and preincarceration HIV risk behaviors in a sample of 499 (70% male) jail inmates, as well as gender differences in these associations. Elevated levels of BPD symptomatology were present among male and female participants, though there was considerab...
Article
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The current study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a manualized Impact of Crime (IOC) group intervention implemented with male inmates (N = 108) at a county jail. Facilitator adherence to the intervention and participant attendance, homework completion, and feedback were assessed. On average facilitators covered 93.7% of each manual t...
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Purpose Some differential intervention frameworks contend that substance use is less robustly related to recidivism outcomes than other criminogenic needs such as criminal thinking. The current study tested the hypothesis that substance use disorder severity moderates the relationship between criminal thinking and recidivism. Methods The study uti...
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We describe and appraise a theoretical model in which individual differences in perspective-taking eventuate in crime reduction. Specifically, it is hypothesized that perspective-taking propensities influence the tendency to feel empathic-concern, thereby heightening proneness for guilt, which ultimately inhibits criminal behavior (perspective-taki...
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Do shame and guilt help people avoid doing wrong? Although some research suggests that guilt-proneness is a protective factor while shame-proneness puts individuals at risk, most research is either cross-sectional or short-term. In this longitudinal study, 380 5th graders (ages 10-12) completed measures of proneness to shame and guilt. We re-interv...
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Psychological research using mostly cross-sectional methods calls into question the presumed function of shame as an inhibitor of immoral or illegal behavior. In a longitudinal study of 476 jail inmates, we assessed shame proneness, guilt proneness, and externalization of blame shortly after incarceration. We interviewed participants (N = 332) 1 ye...
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Previous research finds that self-control is positively associated with adaptive and negatively associated with maladaptive behavior. However, most previous studies use cross-sectional designs, low-risk samples, and limited assessments of self-control. This study of 553 jail inmates examined the relationship of a valid measure of self-control (Brie...
Article
Nonsuicidal self-injury is especially common in adolescents and young adults. Self-injury may be related to shame or guilt-two moral emotions-as these differentially predict other maladaptive behaviors. Using a college sample, we examined not only how shame-proneness, guilt-proneness, and internalizing emotional tendencies related to self-injury, b...
Article
Jail inmates represent a high-risk, multineed population. Why do some jail inmates not access available programs and services? Drawn from a longitudinal study, 261 adults were assessed shortly upon incarceration and reassessed prior to transfer or release from a county jail. Of the participants in need of treatment, 18.5% did not participate in any...
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Theories of health behavior change suggest that perceived susceptibility to illness precedes health-protective behavior. We used a cross-lagged panel design to explore the relationship between perceived susceptibility to AIDS, and HIV risk behavior pre-incarceration and postrelease in a sample of 499 jail inmates, a group at high risk for HIV. We a...
Article
Theories of health behavior change suggest that perceived susceptibility to illness precedes health-protective behavior. We used a cross-lagged panel design to explore the relationship between perceived susceptibility to AIDS, and HIV risk behavior pre-incarceration and post-release in a sample of 499 jail inmates, a group at high risk for HIV. We...
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Theory, research, and clinical reports suggest that moral cognitions play a role in initiating and sustaining criminal behavior. The 25 item Criminogenic Cognitions Scale (CCS) was designed to tap 5 dimensions: Notions of entitlement; Failure to Accept Responsibility; Short-Term Orientation; Insensitivity to Impact of Crime; and Negative Attitudes...
Article
This study examined the relationship between two risk factors for substance misuse (self-control, substance using friends) and changes in jail inmates' substance misuse from pre-incarceration to post-release. Participants were 485 adult jail inmates held on a felony conviction, recruited from a metropolitan county-jail situated in the mid-Atlantic...
Article
Full-text available
Research shows that offenders perceive stigma, but the accuracy of these perceptions has not been assessed, nor their impact on successful reintegration. In a longitudinal study, jail inmates (N = 168) reported perceptions of stigma toward criminals and anticipated stigma just prior to release. A diverse college sample completed a parallel survey a...
Article
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The emotions shame and guilt may represent a critical stepping stone in the rehabilitation process. Often referred to as "moral" emotions owing to their presumed role in promoting altruistic behavior and inhibiting antisocial behaviors, shame and guilt provide potentially exciting points of intervention with offenders. In this article, we describe...
Article
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Individuals cycling in and out of the criminal justice system are at high risk for contracting HIV/AIDS. Most infections are contracted in the community, not during incarceration, but little is known about the profile of risk behaviors responsible for this elevated infection rate. This study investigated pre-incarceration and post-release HIV risk...
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This study of 550 jail inmates (379 male and 171 female) held on felony charges examines the reliability and validity of the Test of Self Conscious Affect -Socially Deviant Version (TOSCA-SD; Hanson & Tangney, 1996) as a measure of offenders' proneness to shame and proneness to guilt. Discriminant validity (e.g., vis-à-vis self-esteem, negative aff...
Article
IntroductionThe Present StudyResultsDiscussion and RecommendationsReferences
Article
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The present study examines the predictive and incremental validity of Violence Risk Appraisal Guide scores in a sample of 328 male and 145 female jail inmates held on felony charges. Significant gender differences were observed in VRAG item and total score means, as well as in correlations between the VRAG and concurrent measures of aggression. VRA...
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Interviews of women with (n = 193) and without (n = 170) recent exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) were used to examine how IPV and past exposure to child abuse influence self-reports of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The measurement of IPV included assessing psychological, physical, escalated physical, and sexual abuse. Wo...
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This study investigated the relationship between inmates' physical health concerns and optimism. Optimism has been consistently associated with physical health in community samples, but little research has examined this potentially malleable variable in an inmate population. This study of 501 male and female jail inmates attempts to bridge this gap...
Article
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Previous research investigating the relationship between Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and sleep problems, independent of depression, has been conducted on small atypical samples with mixed results. This study extends the literature by utilizing a much larger sample and by statistically controlling for depression and substance dependence. S...
Article
Theory suggests that shame should be positively related to aggression while guilt may serve as a protective factor. Little research has examined mediators between the moral emotions and aggression. Results using path analyses in four diverse samples were consistent with a model of no direct relationship between shame-proneness and aggression. There...
Article
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Whites in community samples use mental health services at a much higher rate than African Americans (Kessler et al., 2005). Is this also the case among those in jails? In this study of jail inmates (229 African American, 185 White), there were no race differences in the overall need for mental health treatment (63% of participants had significant s...
Article
Rates of mental illness among prisoners are substantial, but little is known about the unique mental health needs of women in jail, those under pre-trial custodial remand or serving short sentences. To compare male and female jail inmates along a wide range of symptoms of mental illness using identical assessment methods, and to examine gender diff...
Article
This article examines the relationship of shame, guilt, and symptoms of alcohol dependence to pre-incarceration HIV risk behaviors in an ongoing study in a metropolitan jail. Between 2002 and 2004 an ethnically diverse sample of 368 male inmates (mean age = 31, SD = 9.7), were interviewed on a variety of constructs including shame- and guilt-pronen...
Article
The authors examined the association between psychopathy and identification of facial expressions of emotion. Previous research in this area is scant and has produced contradictory findings (Blair et. al., 2001, 2004; Glass & Newman, 2006; Kosson et al., 2002). One hundred and forty-five male jail inmates, rated using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist...
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Full-text available
Current theory assumes that intimate partner violence (IPV) victims' helpseeking is a process that unfolds over time rather than a one-time event, but this assumption has never been explored with longitudinal data. This study describes the pattern of formal helpseeking efforts in a sample of 406 IPV victims over the course of a year. Further, we ex...
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Moral emotions represent a key element of our human moral apparatus, influencing the link between moral standards and moral behavior. This chapter reviews current theory and research on moral emotions. We first focus on a triad of negatively valenced "self-conscious" emotions-shame, guilt, and embarrassment. As in previous decades, much research re...
Article
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This paper describes our attempt to import social-personality theory and research on moral emotions and moral cognitions to applied problems of crime, substance abuse, and HIV risk behavior. Thus far, in an inmate sample, we have evidence that criminogenic beliefs and proneness to guilt are each predictive of re-offense after release from jail. In...
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Without a doubt, people can feel simultaneously connected to multiple communities (e.g., Deaux, 1993; Roccas & Brewer, 2002). But, to what degree can people feel simultaneously connected to communities with opposing beliefs and values? And, more importantly, what are the psychological implications of being dually connected to these communities? Cap...
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In a longitudinal study of children followed for 8 years into adolescence, the authors investigated how different forms of maltreatment (i.e., harsh parenting, sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence) in childhood and parenting during adolescence influenced adolescents' shame- and guilt-proneness. Furthermore, the authors examined whether dimini...
Article
Full-text available
Previous research has demonstrated that shame-proneness (the tendency to feel bad about the self) relates to a variety of life problems, whereas guilt-proneness (the tendency to feel bad about a specific behavior) is more likely to be adaptive. The current analyses sought to clarify the relations of shame-proneness and guilt-proneness to substance...
Article
To investigate relationships among family risk factors, childhood firesetting and animal cruelty, and adolescent delinquency. In 1990, mothers and children participating in a 10-year prospective study provided information about family risk factors and childhood problem behavior. Subsequent interviews with 86% of the sample in 1996 and 1998 and cour...
Article
This study examines male-to-female physical abuse within adolescent relationships. Analyses use data describing 603 opposite sex relationships reported during Wave II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) matched with data on the individual characteristics of both the reporting females and their male partners from Wav...
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Three hundred sixty-three school-aged children from maritally violent and nonviolent families were interviewed about their friendship networks, frequency of social contact, the interpersonal quality of their friendships, and hostile attributional biases. Mothers answered items from the Child Behavior Checklist about peer conflict. Children did not...
Article
While adolescent substance use has been the focus of extensive research over the last few decades, Hispanic adolescent substance use has received only limited attention. Studies exploring predictors of Hispanic adolescent substance use have failed to adequately explore the contribution of the family on substance use. The present study examined the...

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