Probation and parole agent communication patterns as antecedents to clients' reactance and acts to restore freedoms: Moderating effects of emerging adult status and gender

Theory and research pertaining to corrections has shown the importance of relationships between probation/parole agents and people they supervise. It also has shown how the way that agents communicate affects the effectiveness of supervision. This article extends prior research on the effects of probation and parole agents' use of two patterns of communication with people they supervise. One pattern is oriented towards conformity, and the other towards conversation. As hypothesized, in a sample of nearly 300 men and women categorized as at risk for recidivism, conversational communication was related to low feelings of threat to freedoms (i.e., reactance) and limited intended actions to restore freedoms (i.e., restoration), both of which predicted self-reported behavior to avoid associating with people who break the law and to avoid substance misuse. Conformity communication predicted increased reactance, which predicted increased freedom restoration and lower levels of behavior to avoid people who break the law as well as lower levels of avoiding substance misuse. Gender of clients did not moderate the significant effects, but for both women and men, conversational communication had the strongest positive effects for emerging adults. Overall, community supervision agents' use of conversational communication appeared to benefit clients regardless of life stage and gender.