The role of psychological flexibility in the relationship between ACEs and coercive family processes for Justice-Involved individuals

Abstract

High rates of adversity in the lives of justice-involved individuals often co-occur with social and family dysfunction. Psychological flexibility is a construct that describes an individual’s ability to respond adaptively to emotions, thoughts, and environmental demands. This study aimed to explore the role of psychological flexibility in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and coercive family processes in a sample of justice-involved individuals. The sample comprised 715 men and women who are currently on probation or parole. Participants completed questionnaires assessing adverse childhood experiences, psychological flexibility, coercive couple interactions, and coercive parent-child interactions. Direct and indirect effects were found, with ACEs affecting couple coercive processes directly, and indirectly, through psychological flexibility. In the subset of participants with children, lower levels of psychological flexibility were also related to more coercive parent-child interactions. The results provide further support for correctional programs that target psychological flexibility among justice-involved individuals.

Keywords:

• Adverse childhood experiences
• coercive processes
• family violence
• psychological flexibility

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amie Zarling

Amie Zarling, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Iowa State University in Ames, IA.

Meg Berta

Meg Berta, M.A., is a Research Scientist at Iowa State University in Ames, IA.

Brittni Van

Brittni Van, M.A., is a doctoral student at Iowa State University.