Childhood and Adult Sexual Violence Exposures as Predictors of PTSD, Dissociation, and Substance Use in Women in Jail

ABSTRACT

Women involved in the criminal legal system report high rates of interpersonal violence, particularly sexual violence, and mental health problems. Although existing research has linked experiences of interpersonal violence to multiple negative mental health outcomes, few researchers have examined concurrent psychopathology as an outcome of child and adult sexual violence in system-involved women. The purpose of this study was to examine child sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual violence, while controlling for other forms of interpersonal violence, as predictors of current symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PSTD), substance use disorder (SUD), and dissociation in women in jail in the Mountain West. Randomly selected participants (N = 146) completed clinician-administered measures of trauma histories and mental health symptoms. The majority of the women (73%) reported experiences of CSA and about half reported experiences of adult sexual violence. Over half of the women reported symptoms consistent with current probable PTSD, about 20% reported dissociation symptoms in a clinical range, and over 70% met criteria for a SUD in the past year. The proposed model was tested with path analysis. CSA significantly predicted current symptoms of PTSD while adult sexual violence exposure predicted symptoms of SUD and dissociation. These results illustrate the high rates of sexual violence exposure as well as the complexity of mental health needs associated with these exposures in system-involved women. Findings highlight the need to comprehensively assess incarcerated women’s trauma exposure and psychological distress to better meet the needs of this population.

KEYWORDS:

• incarcerated women
• child sexual abuse
• sexual violence
• SUD
• PTSD
• dissociation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Idaho State University .

Notes on contributors

Shannon Lynch

Shannon Lynch is a Professor of Psychology at Idaho State University and a licensed Clinical Psychologist. Dr. Lynch’s research interests focus broadly on individuals’ experiences of and recovery from interpersonal violence. Currently, her research team is conducting a series of projects examining incarcerated women's and youths' trauma exposure, mental health, treatment/programming needs, and factors influencing current functioning as well as reintegration into the community and reoffending. She is interested in informing criminal legal policy to decrease trauma exposed individuals’ risk of becoming involved with the criminal legal system and reoffending.

Shelby Weber

Shelby Weber is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at Idaho State University. Her research focuses on the broad impact of trauma exposure, substance use, and other behavioral health disparities, particularly among incarcerated youth and women. She studies the extent to which these experiences interact to influence critical behavioral and mental health outcomes as well as resilience factors for coping with traumatic distress.

Stephanie Kaplan

Stephanie Kaplan is a licensed Clinical Psychologist currently practicing in Colorado. Dr. Kaplan’s research interests focus largely on the negative sequelae of interpersonal violence. The majority of Dr. Kaplan’s work has focused specifically on post-traumatic stress disorder among women, and it’s maintenance factors. She is interested in informing clinical practice to reduce symptoms of PTSD in women following exposure to violence.

Elizabeth Craun

Dr. Elizabeth Craun earned her doctorate in clinical psychology at Idaho State University. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Palo Alto VA Healthcare System and a clinical neuropsychology fellowship at the Boston VA Healthcare System. Dr. Craun now works at Intermountain Medical Center as a clinical neuropsychologist, where her duties are divided between neurodiagnostic outpatient evaluations and a level-1 trauma neurorehabilitation inpatient unit for acute neurologically ill or injured patients. Her primary clinical focus is neurodegenerative conditions in geriatric populations.