Histories of childhood victimization and subsequent mental health problems, substance use, and sexual victimization for a sample of incarcerated women in the US

Abstract

Women are entering US prisons at nearly double the rate of men and are the fastest growing prison population. Current extant literature focuses on the prevalence of the incarceration of women, but few studies exist that emphasize the different trajectories to prison. For example, women prisoners have greater experiences of prior victimization, more reports of mental illness, and higher rates of illicit substance use. The purpose of this study was to understand the prevalence of childhood victimization and its association with adult mental health problems, substance abuse disorders, and further sexual victimization. The research team interviewed a random sample of 125 women prisoners soon to release from prison to gather information on their childhood physical and sexual victimization, mental health and substance abuse problems as an adult, and sexual victimization in the year preceding incarceration. Results indicate that women prisoners in this sample who were both physically and sexually victimized as a child were more likely to be hospitalized as an adult for a psychological or emotional problem. Women who were sexually victimized or both physically and sexually victimized were more likely to attempt suicide. Women who experienced physical victimization as children and women who were both physically and sexually victimized were more likely to have a substance use disorder and women who were sexually abused as children or both physically and sexually victimized were more likely to be sexually abused in the year preceding prison. This article ends with a discussion about prisons’ role in providing treatment for women prisoners and basing this treatment on women’s trajectories to prison, which disproportionately includes childhood victimization and subsequent mental health and substance use problems.

Childhood Abuse and Mental Health Problems: Does Gender Matter?

“…In particular, research has shown that female prisoners are more likely than male prisoners to suffer from psychiatric disorders [4,9]. Many female offenders are victims of multiple abuse as children and adults, and this history of abuse is assumed to be a major contributor to their mental health problems, drug dependency, and crimes [41].…”

“…Wallace et al [3, p. 2] argued that ''prisons are the largest institution housing the mentally ill.'' Indeed, research has found a high prevalence of mental health disorders among inmates compared with the general population [4][5][6][7]. In particular, there is evidence that female prisoners are more likely than male prisoners to suffer from psychiatric disorders [8,9] and to have been victims of multiple forms of child abuse [10]. A national survey of the Israel Prison Service [11] revealed a higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders among female inmates compared with male inmates (23.9 and 6.5 %, respectively); similar findings were reported in the United States (73 and 55 %, respectively) [12].…”

The Effects of Age at Prison Release on Women’s Desistance Trajectories: a Mixed-Method Analysis

“…This selection would avoid wasting resources with people who are not yet ready to desist (and will not benefit from employment) and avoid creating perverse incentives for those who are still actively involved in crime. Until women's risks are properly defined and assessed, the development of programming that best suits their needs will continue to fall short [53,54,84,114,129]. Most importantly, we must infuse all programming with an intersectional orientation that accounts for the many victimization, offending, and reentry contexts that women of different races, classes, sexual orientations, and other social loci must navigate [37,41,89,96].…”

Caring for victims of sexual violence, part III: pregnancy after rape – integrative review

“…Mulheres que sofreram OS com penetração apresentam mais do dobro de probabilidade de serem obesas (em média 11 kg a mais se vítimas de OS e abuso físico), três vezes mais chances de sofrer distúrbios mentais com necessidade de hospitalização, quatro vezes mais chances de depender de álcool, cinco vezes mais risco de depender de drogas e mais de seis vezes a probabilidade de tentar suicídio 9 . As VVS também tiveram aumento de 38% em chance de sofrer enxaquecas, de forma quantitativamente dependente ao número de abusos, se comparadas a controles 10,11 . Demonstrou-se que as portadoras de déficit intelectual estão mais expostas à violência de gênero, com incapacitação mais severa e pior qualidade de vida 7 .…”