Bruised Inside Out: The Adverse and Abusive Life Histories of Incarcerated Women as Pathways to PTSD and Illicit Drug Use

Abstract

The majority of incarcerated women who suffer from diverse traumatic life histories including abusive home lives and intimate partner violence (IPV), develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and struggle with heavy illicit drug use. While many have offered examinations of these relationships, the current study is among the first to utilize an integrated feminist pathways and general strain theory (GST) approach to explain them. Using data from a stratified random sample of all incarcerated women in Oklahoma (N = 334), we explore the links between, adverse childhood experiences, including physical, sexual, emotional, and childhood neglect, IPV, PTSD, and heavy illicit drug use. Our findings indicate that the effects of IPV on heavy illicit drug use are mediated by PTSD symptoms suggesting that PTSD plays a significant role in the pathway to illicit drug use among Oklahoma women prisoners. Implications for the importance of utilizing an integrated feminist pathways and GST approach in future research are offered.

Keywords:

• general strain theory
• feminist pathways
• abusive life histories
• heavy illicit drug use
• incarcerated women

Notes

¹ In Agnew’s (2006) GST, he refers to deviant or criminal coping behaviors as one way to deal with, reduce, escape, or alleviate negative emotions in response to strains. Some people are more likely than others to cope with strains through crime. In particular, criminal coping is more likely when people do not have social support systems to help them manage strain, when they lack the verbal skills to negotiate with those who mistreat them, when the costs of crime are low, and when people are emotionally predisposed to crime (e.g., low constraint).

² Two of the authors were present during the administration of the survey to answer any clarification questions asked by participants.

³ There have been some changes in the PTSD diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV to the DSM-5. The DSM-5 pays more attention to the behavioral symptoms that accompany PTSD and proposes four distinct diagnostic clusters instead of three: re-experiencing, avoidance, negative cognitions and moods (new addition), and arousal (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

⁴ The histogram created for this variable indicated no skew.

⁵ We included incarceration offense type here for descriptive purposes. We did explore the effects of incarceration offense type on heavy illicit drug use; however, we did not include offense type in the final models presented here because the findings did not reveal any significant results related to incarceration offense type. We note that previous research does demonstrate a link between alcohol and drug use, drug-related offenses, crimes against persons, and property related crimes (Bowles et al., 2012; McClellan et al., 1997; Owen, 1998).

⁶ In Oklahoma’s women prisoner general population, 40% were currently incarcerated for crimes against persons, 37% for alcohol-and-drug related offenses, and 23% for property related offenses.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melissa S. Jones

Melissa S. Jones is a Doctoral Candidate in Sociology at the University of Oklahoma. Her research interests include victimization, gender and crime, and the incarceration of women.

Meredith G. F. Worthen

Meredith G. F. Worthen is an associate professor of Sociology, elected faculty member of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, and affiliate faculty member of the Center for Social Justice at the University of Oklahoma. Her four main areas of research are deviance, stigma, sexualities, and gender and crime.

Susan F. Sharp

Susan F. Sharp is a David Ross Boyd Professor/Presidential Professor Emerita at the University of Oklahoma. Her research interests include gender differences in deviant behavior, effects of incarceration on the families of inmates, and the death penalty.

David A. McLeod

David A. McLeod is an associate professor of Social Work at the University of Oklahoma. His research interests include criminal behavior development, gender, forensic trauma, child protection, and social work education.