Sexual Coercion,Trauma, and Sex Work in Justice-Involved Women with Substance Use Disorders

Sexual victimization is associated with mental health problems, trauma, substance use, and incarceration. We recruited 200 formerly incarcerated women with substance use disorders in Chicago. We examined whether empowerment moderates relationships between trauma symptoms, trading sex, and being forced to have sex. There was a significant 3-way interaction among sexual coercion, trading, and empowerment scores on trauma symptoms. For women who have not traded sex, lower levels of empowerment were associated with a larger difference in trauma symptoms between women who have been coerced or traded sex. For women who had been coerced, lower levels of empowerment were associated with a larger difference in trauma symptomatology between those who have traded sex or not. Promoting empowerment in sexually traumatized women might reduce the harm that results from being victimized. Furthermore, providing interventions that educate women regarding gender and cultural roles could help women avoid situations that result in exploitation.     

Incarcerated Mothers: Mutual Support Groups Aimed at Reducing Substance Abuse Relapse and Recidivism

Interventions to reduce relapse and recidivism for the increasing number of mothers incarcerated for illicit drug use are needed to prevent maternal/child separation and high public expenditures. This paper describes mutual support groups for women inmates aimed at strengthening family coping skills, especially communication, anger management, and parenting skills. Qualitative data collected during the group sessions indicated that the healing support of shared experiences, stories, poetry, and staying in the present were identified as spiritually uplifting. Problem solving and improved family interactions constituted additional themes extracted from the qualitative data. Future plans include including quantitative outcome measures of success.     

Interpersonal Violence,Recovery, and Resilience in Incarcerated Women

Abstract

Our first study focuses on interpersonal violence and characteristics of resilience (evaluated by the Multidimensional Trauma Resilience and Recovery [MTRR] interview and rating scales) in a sample of incarcerated women. The second study applies qualitative data analysis to a case study of one participant in group therapy for incarcerated women with a history of childhood sexual abuse. Despite extensive history of both frequent and severe abuse, the women displayed a high degree of resilience across multiple domains, including, in particular, the ability to derive meaning from traumatic events and to place the memories into context, ability to form meaningful relationships with others, and ability to regulate affect. These findings were replicated in study two, which illustrates the process of recovery from a poly-traumatic history.     

Drug Use and Self-Harming Behavior Among Incarcerated Men: Does Childhood Abuse,Anger, and Executive Function Make a Difference?

Childhood abuse, anger, drug-related problems, and self-harm are commonly seen among incarcerated individuals. Forty-three young incarcerated males from an Istanbul prison were assessed for childhood abuse, anger, drug use, self-harming behavior, and executive function (EF). Further, 58% of the sample was using drugs, and 60.5% showed self-harming behavior. Performing a backward stepwise binary logistic regression model, it was found that the likelihood of using drugs was determined by EF measured by the Trail Making Test form A, childhood abuse, anger, and self-harm. On the other hand, self-harm was determined by childhood abuse, anger, and drug use.     

The Coincidence of Depression and High Ability in Delinquent Youth

We describe the incidence and coincidence of depression and high ability in a sample of Virginia's incarcerated delinquent youth population. Specifically, 207 incarcerated juveniles were assessed with the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). The data indicated there were as many high ability juveniles in detention settings as would be expected in a regular population. Results from the CDI identified 37% as at risk for clinical depression. Cross-tabulation of the data indicated a significant relationship between high ability and depression in the delinquent population. In addition, the findings indicated that the presence of depression is related to the ability level of the juvenile. That high ability delinquents may be more vulnerable to depression argues that the coincidence of these conditions requires consideration. Based upon these findings, and given the high correlation suicide has with depression, we suggest that screening for depression should be mandatory for incarcerated delinquents.     

未成年人内隐攻击性特征的实验研究

以不同性质的词组为实验材料,以偏好组词为测量方法,随机抽取136名初一学生,采用被试内设计来探讨内隐状态下未成年人在不同攻击类型倾向性上的差异及其与性别间的关系。结果表明:偏好组词法测量内隐攻击性的有效性;未成年人同样存在明显的内隐攻击性;在内隐状态下,个体的身体攻击倾向性显著高于语言攻击倾向性并且具有较高的性别一致性。     

How Do Mothers in Prison Differ From Non-Mothers?

Adjustment patterns and criminal characteristics of 350 incarcerated mothers of children under 21 years of age were contrasted to those of 166 women from the same institution that had never had children. There were no observed differences between mothers and non-mothers in terms of self-reported mental illness symptoms, emotional distress, or conflict with other individuals at the prison. There were also no differences in terms of institutional infractions observed by prison officials. Consistent with previous research with the same sample, there were adjustment differences between mothers reporting high versus low levels of parenting stress, but neither group of mothers evidenced different adjustment patterns relative to non-mothers. However, there were differences in criminal characteristics. Mothers were more likely than non-mothers to be incarcerated for property or drug offenses, and were more likely to have at least one current or previous drug offense in their criminal history. Non-mothers were more likely than mothers to be incarcerated for violent offenses, including homicide. Results indicate that although there are differences between mothers and non-mothers in the contexts associated with criminal behavior, both groups show the same range of adjustment problems once in prison.     

An outcome evaluation of Functional Family Therapy for court‐involved youth

This article presents results of a study on the effectiveness of Functional Family Therapy (FFT), a family intervention designed to prevent delinquency. The sample includes 155 court‐involved youth. This study employs two complementary outcomes: court‐obtained data on recidivism and the clinical data on clients’ psychosocial functioning, the Strengths and Needs Assessment (SNA). Adolescents in the treatment and in the comparison groups experienced statistically significant improvements on the majority of the SNA domains. Although youths in the treatment group improved more, the differences between the groups were not statistically significant. Multivariate analysis showed that youths in FFT had significantly lower odds of recidivism as measured by reconvictions for drug offenses, property offenses and technical violations. The results suggest that FFT was effective in reducing recidivism, however, such reductions cannot be attributed to improvements in the SNA scores.