Social problem-solving skills and psychological distress among incarcerated young offenders: The issue of bullying and victimization

This research examines the relationships between means-end problem solving and psychological distress in a group of incarcerated Scottish young offenders who had been identified within the institution as bullies, victims of bullying, or a non-bully/non-victim control group. The Means-End Problem Solving Procedure (MEPS) was used alongside the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Profile of Mood States (POMS), and the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). On all of these measures, the results suggested a greater level of distress and poorer means-end thinking in the group of victims of bullying. Although distress was also correlated to the age of the respondent and the total amount of time they had spent incarcerated, ANCOVA revealed main effects for the bullying status of the individual (i.e., bully, victim, non-bully/non-victim) with regard to distress when age and total amount of time incarcerated were covariates. Numerous deficits in problem-solving skills as measured by the MEPS were found to correlate with higher levels of distress.