The curious case of loners: Social isolation and juvenile incarceration

Purpose The current study examines a subset of youth incarcerated within California's Division of Juvenile Justice who stated they had no close friends during their current period of confinement. As social isolation and peer rejection can have behavioural and developmental issues associated with it, this study examines this concept among an understudied population, incarcerated male youth. Method Utilizing official and interview data from 213 male youth who responded to an egocentric friendship prompt, this study analyses the correlates of self‐identifying as a ‘loner’ during periods of incarceration. The final logistic regression model uses a multiple imputation model to account for missing data. Results Findings from this study indicate that loner status is influenced by a youth's vulnerable commitment status and commitment offence. Youth sentenced through the adult court and older youth were more likely to state they had no close friends in the institution, while those with a sex offence and those who reported involvement with gang violence were more likely to state they had at least one close friend. Conclusion The self‐reporting incarcerated loner offers a unique area of study as it examines social isolation among a highly delinquent group of juveniles. This study has important implications for correctional psychologists, staff, and researchers as a youth's removal from the larger social network may be at odds with the rehabilitative goals of the institution.