Attachment style, attachment to God, religiosity, and moral disengagement: a study on offenders

The present study investigates religiosity, moral disengagement, attachment to God, and interpersonal attachment in 30 offenders within Italian jails. We administered a semi-structured interview to collect data about family, social and medical history, and the manner in which the deviant act was carried out; the Moral Disengagement Scale; the Attachment to God Inventory; the Revised Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale; and the Attachment Style Questionnaire. Results show how intrinsic religiosity negatively predicts moral disengagement; the “Preoccupation with Relationships” Scale (anxious/ambivalent attachment) predicts avoidant attachment to God; and the “Secondariety for Relationship” Scale (dismissing attachment) predicts personal extrinsic religiosity and negatively predicts intrinsic religiosity. Studying these constructs in offenders is important not only to increase the literature but also to implement interventions aimed at reeducation focused on issues relevant to personal adjustment.