How do adverse experiences contribute to incarceration and substance use?
Brandy F Henry, PhD, LICSW, and T32 Postdoctoral Fellow recently published three papers addressing this question. These papers collectively examine the interplay between incarceration, adverse experiences, mental health and substance use disorders.
- Adverse experiences, mental health, and substance use disorders as social determinants of incarceration uses qualitative methods to identify the role that adverse experiences, mental health and substance use disorders play as pathways to incarceration.
- Typologies of adversity in childhood & adulthood as determinants of mental health & substance use disorders of adults incarcerated in US prisons applies latent class analysis to identify underlying typologies of adverse experiences among incarcerated people and describes how different types of adverse experiences are associated with mental health and substance use disorders.
- Adversity, Mental Health, and Substance Use Disorders as Predictors and Mediators of Rule Violations in US Prisons uses structural equation modeling to describe how typologies of adverse experiences are associated with rule violations during incarceration, and how mental health and substance use disorders mediate that relationship.
Findings from these studies explain how adverse experiences contribute to the development of mental health and substance use disorders and interact with these embodied experiences as determinants of incarceration. Findings also allow for the development of more targeted policies and programs.
