Exploring the developmental trajectory of dual harm exhibited by young adult men in prison

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Thurston, L.V. ORCID: 0000-0002-6864-895X, 2023. Exploring the developmental trajectory of dual harm exhibited by young adult men in prison. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

Rates of self-harm and interpersonal violence are high in UK prisons, although there is a smaller subset of people (around 11% of the prison population) who engage in both harmful behaviours (termed dual harm herein). As a group, adults who dual harm cause disproportionate instability in prisons. They perpetrate high rates of fire-setting, disorder and property damage in prison and engage in a greater variety of self-harm methods, including lethal methods. However, despite research exploring dual harm among adolescents and young adults in the community, no research has explored dual harm by young adults (age 18-21) in prison. Due to this, both a qualitative (e.g., how they make sense of their behaviours) and quantitative (e.g., the prevalence of dual harm and the population’s distinct characteristics) understanding of dual harm by this population is lacking. This thesis uses an exploratory sequential mixed method design to address this and explore the developmental trajectory of dual harm exhibited by young adult men in prison.

The first empirical study (n = 5) qualitatively explored the life stories of young adult men in prison with a history of dual harm. This considered participants’ life trajectories and how they made sense of their self-harm and violence. The second study (n = 10,202) ascertained the prevalence of dual harm by young adult men in prison using routinely collected prison data. Using this data, the study also explored whether relationships between demographic, developmental, criminological and clinical variables differed across young adult men who engage in dual harm, sole self-harm, sole violence and those who do not engage in either harmful behaviour in prison. Lastly, the third study (n = 10,201) identified which variables from the previous study successfully distinguished young adult men who dual harm in prison from those who engage in sole self-harm, sole violence and those who do not engage in either harmful behaviour in prison.

The findings for this thesis emphasised several key areas in the developmental pathway of dual harm among this population. First, narratives of dual harm were embedded in broader stories of adverse childhood experiences, protection and emotion regulation. Moreover, as a group, young adults who dual harmed in prison were younger when in contact with the police and admitted to prison, spent longer in custody as a young adult, and had fewer qualifications, compared to other population groups. In the final chapter, a theoretical framework is proposed to explain the trajectory of dual harm among young adult men in prison. Practical and methodological implications of the thesis are discussed, along with limitations and suggested directions for future research.

Item Type:

Thesis

Creators:

Thurston, L.V.

Contributors:

Name	Role	NTU ID	ORCID
Slade, K.	Thesis supervisor	PSY3SLADEK	orcid.org/0000-0002-7442-4805
Blagden, N.	Thesis supervisor	SOC3BLAGDNJ	orcid.org/0000-0002-4037-0984
Baguley, T.	Thesis supervisor	PSY3BAGULTS	orcid.org/0000-0002-0477-2492

Date:

August 2023

Rights:

The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author.

Divisions:

Schools > School of Social Sciences

Record created by:

Linda Sullivan

Date Added:

27 Sep 2023 08:26

Last Modified:

28 Nov 2023 12:02

URI:

https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/49819