القدرة التنبئية للدعم الاجتماعي بمستوى الصلابة النفسية ومعنى الحياة لدى عينة من نزلاء السجون

Abstract

This study aims to examine the relationship among psychological hardiness, the meaning of life, and the ability of social support to predict the levels of psychological hardiness and meaning of life among prison inmates in Makkah region. In addition, it seeks to explore the differences among the averages of the study sample individuals in terms of social support, psychological hardiness, and the meaning of life in accordance with demographic variables: gender, nationality, age, prison term, financial situation, educational level, and type of crime. For the purpose of collecting the study data, the researcher used the descriptive approach; predictive, correlation, and comparative on the study sample comprising (400) male and female prison inmates from Makkah region, using the social support scale developed by Al-Anzi (2017), the psychological hardness scale developed by Al-Najjar and Al-Tala`a (2012), and the meaning of life scale developed by Steger et al. (2006) and translated by the researcher. The study findings showed a statistically significant direct correlation between psychological hardiness and the meaning of life, and a statistically significant direct correlation between social support and psychological hardiness, while there was no correlation between social support and the meaning of life. Moreover, the findings revealed statistically significant differences among social support averages attributed to the variables of age, prison term, financial situation, and type of crime. Furthermore, statistically significant differences were found among psychological hardiness averages attributed to the variables of gender, age, and educational level. Further, statistically significant differences were noted among the meaning of life averages attributed to the educational level variable. Other findings indicated that social support has a predictive ability of psychological hardiness level while it cannot predict the meaning of life level. In view of the study findings, the researcher recommends developing two kinds of programs, mentoring and therapeutic, to raise the levels of psychological hardiness and the meaning of life among prison inmates. Thereby, improving the rehabilitation process inside prisons and enabling inmates to make the optimal use of the social support accorded to them.