The Associations between Risky Psychosocial Environment, Substance Addiction Severity and Imprisonment: A Swedish Registry Study

Abstract

Objective: Both childhood and adult psychosocial stressors have been identified as links to both increased risk for substance use disorder (SUD) and increased risk of imprisonment. The aim of this retrospective study is to identify, for a sample of 14,914 adults who all were assessed for risky substance use or a SUD, the importance of having a history of psychosocial stressors compared to current addiction severity. The analyses control for age, gender and education on the likelihood of future imprisonment. Method: Baseline Addiction Severity Index data (ASI) were merged with national registry data on prison sentences from 2003 to 2016. In the analysis, a Cox regression was used to study the association between independent variables and the likelihood of future imprisonment. Results: In the regression, five variables showed significant association to increased risk of imprisonment: ASI drugs other than alcohol Composite Score (positive relationship), ASI alcohol Composite Score (negative relationship), age (younger), education (lower) and parental problems with drugs other than alcohol. The factor with strongest association with imprisonment was the ASI drugs other than alcohol Composite Score, which showed the highest HR ¼ 10.63 (3.50-32.31) for women and HR ¼ 5.52 (3.77-8.08) for men to predict the likelihood of imprisonment. Discussion: Research is needed on why individuals with history of psychosocial stressors have a higher likelihood of imprisonment compared to their counterparts. Findings indicate that a high ASI Composite Score for drugs other than alcohol are strong predictors of future criminality and criminal justice system involvement.

Drug use and re-imprisonment: A prospective study of the Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction (NorMA) cohort

“…However, in addition to risky drug use being associated with more imprisonment, younger age and low level of education were also found to be positively associated with re-imprisonment. These findings are consistent with previous research on recidivism in the prison population in general ( Skarðhamar and Telle, 2009 ) and the drug-using prison population in particular ( Håkansson and Berglund, 2012 ; Grahn et al., 2020 ; Winter et al., 2019 ; Link and Hamilton, 2017 ).…”

“…Our findings are in line with previous research on criminal offending and imprisonment among people with high-risk drug use ( Gjersing and Bretteville-Jensen, 2021 ; Thomas et al., 2015 ; Winter et al., 2019 ; Link and Hamilton, 2017 ; Bennett et al., 2008 ; Phillips, 2010 ; Bennett and Edwards, 2015 ; Pierce et al., 2015 ). In a recent study using a large sample of adults assessed for risky drug use or SUD, Grahn and colleagues ( Grahn et al., 2020 ) found higher Addiction Severity Index Composite Score (ASI CS) for use of drugs other than alcohol to be the strongest predictor for re-imprisonment across both genders ( Grahn et al., 2020 ). Their regression model included parental narcotic problems, physical abuse, ASI CS on both narcotics and alcohol use, education and age.…”

“…DUDs among people in prison are associated with a range of negative post-release consequences, including mortality ( Chang et al., 2015 ) and especially overdose death in the immediate period after release ( Bukten et al., 2017 ). In addition, re-arrest and re-imprisonment are frequent problems among the drug using prison population ( Håkansson and Berglund, 2012 ; Gjersing and Bretteville-Jensen, 2021 ; Grahn et al., 2020 ; Thomas et al., 2015 ), particularly among people who resume drug use after release ( Larney et al., 2012 ; Winter et al., 2019 ). Winter et al.…”

Denetimli Serbestlik Tedbiri Konulan Madde Kullanıcılarında Depresyon Belirti Düzeyine Göre Bağımlılık Şiddetinin İncelenmesi

“…Madde kullanımı ile suç davranışları arasında çift yönlü bir ilişki vardır (1,2). Madde kullanımı, kişiyi suça iten bir araç olabildiği gibi, maddeyi temin etmek amacıyla istemli suç davranışları da görülebilir (2)(3)(4). Ülkemizde madde ile ilişkili suçlar, 26 Eylül 2004 tarihli ve 5237 sayılı Türk Ceza Kanununun 191. maddesinde "Kullanmak için uyuşturucu veya uyarıcı madde satın alan, kabul eden veya bulunduran kişi, bir yıldan iki yıla kadar hapis cezası ile cezalandırılır" şeklinde belirtilir.…”

Adolescence Predictors for Drug Crime Offending: A Follow-up Study of Former Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients

“…Family conflicts and parental substance use are related to an increased risk of the offspring experiencing substance use problems in adolescence and young adulthood (Alati et al 2005 ; Zhou et al 2006 ; Hayatbakhsh et al 2007 ; Mezzich et al 2009 ). Parental substance misuse is a common social stressor among prisoners with substance use disorders (Grahn et al 2019 ). There is also evidence suggesting that criminal offending in adulthood can be prevented with a supportive and non-punitive relationship with parents during adolescence (Johnson et al 2011 ), while weak parent–child attachment, and less supervision, are associated with greater involvement in delinquency (Fagan et al 2011 ).…”