Equifinality and Multifinality as Organizing Frameworks for Unpacking Change in Prison

• In Event: Inmate Adjustment in a Correctional Environment

Abstract

Objective: Multifinality and equifinality are useful concepts that could be used by correctional scholars to better understand diverse incarceration experiences. This study identifies individuals who are reporting positive change during the first year of incarceration and assesses the processes that are associated with these improvements. Specifically, this study uses an equifinality framework to highlight the numerous pathways that can lead to a single positive outcome and a multifinality framework to highlight the numerous outcomes that can be associated with a single life event.
Data/Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 326 incarcerated men as a part of the Arizona Working and Living in Prison project at three time points. We examined participants’ perceptions of change and what participants attributed change to. We then assessed what salient incarceration experiences were associated with self-reported change for the better.
Results: Results show variation in perceptions of change, revealing a small group of incarcerated men who report changing for the better with unique incarceration experiences.
Conclusions: A new approach to correctional research, guided by equifinality and multifinality, could begin to unpack the diversity of outcomes that can come from imprisonment, as well as the diversity of pathways that can lead to these outcomes.

Authors

• Stephanie J. Morse, Saint Anselm College

• Kevin Wright, Arizona State University