Examination of early maladaptive schemas, impulsivity and moral disengagement in sexual and violent offenders

The aim of this study is to examine individuals who are detained or convicted of sexual crimes and violent crimes in penal institutions in terms of early maladaptive schemas, impulsivity and moral disengagement. This research carried out with 311 adult male individuals between the ages of 25-55 who are imprisoned/convicted of the relevant types of crimes in Maltepe No 1 L Type Closed Penitentiary Institution and Maltepe No 2 L Type Closed Prison between 2021-2022. The scales applied randomly to the participants from the relevant crime group. Independent Groups T Test and Pearson Correlation Coefficient used if there was a significant difference between the groups determined by the measurement made for the analysis of the obtained data. Chi-square analysis was used to examine the relationship between the demographic characteristics of the participants according to the type of crimes. According to findings, there is no significant difference between the moral disengagement leves of violent crime group and sexual crime group. The motor and attention-related impulsivity level of violent crime group is significantly higher than the sexual crime group. At the same time, impaired autonomy and disconnection schema domain scores of sexual crime group is significantly higher than the violent crime group. In addition, there is a significant relationship between certain schema domains and the level of moral disengagement and impulsivity.