The association between offenders’ and spouses’ anger, dysfunctional communication, and family cohesion and adaptability in prisoner reentry: An actor-partner interdependence mediation model

Family has been widely considered as one of the most important resources for released prisoners in their reentry process. The current study examined the relationships between returning offenders and their spouses in terms of anger expressions, dysfunctional communication patterns, family cohesion, and adaptability. 243 released Korean prisoners and their spouses, who received housing assistance from the Korean Rehabilitation Agency (KRA), participated in the study. The dyadic data was analyzed using APIMeM (the actor-partner interdependence mediation model). Released prisoners’ displays of anger were associated with their own and spouses’ reduced family cohesion and adaptability through their own and spouses’ dysfunctional communication patterns. Spouses’ suppression of anger was associated with their own and offenders’ reduced family cohesion and adaptability through spouses’ dysfunctional communication, while offenders’ suppression of anger was only associated with their own dysfunctional communication. The findings suggest that relationships between offenders and their family members should be better understood and considered an important factor in the context of prisoner reentry. The limitations and implications of this study are also discussed.