A History of Drug Use and Childhood Sexual Abuse Among Incarcerated Males in a County Jail

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and drug use among incarcerated males. A retrospective, self-reported survey was administered over an 8-week period (September and October 2001) to a random sample of 100 men who were incarcerated in a county jail. The survey included questions about childhood sexual experiences before and after puberty, drug history and use, and sexual risk-taking behaviors.

Overall, 59% of this sample of male inmates reported some form of childhood sexual abuse, and all such instances occurred before or at the age of 13. Statistically significant relationships were found between drug use and childhood sexual abuse, with those who experienced childhood sexual abuse reporting drug use at percentages as much as 30% higher than those denying histories of childhood sexual abuse.

Keywords:

• Childhood sexual abuse
• child maltreatment
• sexually abused males
• incarcerated males
• adult survivors
• victimization
• recreational drug use.

Notes

^aThe journal's style utilizes the category substance abuse as a diagnostic category. Substances are used or misused; living organisms are and can be abused. Editor's note.

^bFor race, marital status, and employment, the respective p values for X2(4) tests of independence were 0.54, 0.21, and 0.60. To produce a valid χ² test of the education data, the “8th grade” level had to be dropped, producing a p = 0.40 value for the X2(2) test. The F(2,97) test of age produced a p value of 0.23.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

REGINA J. JOHNSON

Dr. Regina Jones Johnson, Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, has been a registered nurse for 22 years. During these 22 years she has served in many capacities in the health care arena as professor, lecturer, clinician, author, researcher, and consultant. From 1998–2000 she was Site Coordinator for the National Institute of Justice Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program (ADAM) study site in Houston, Texas. Dr. Johnson has held faculty appointments at The University of Texas at Arlington, School of Nursing, The University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance, Houston Baptist University College of Nursing, and Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing. Her most recent accomplishment was to be named one of the Who's Who in Health Sciences Education by the AcademicKeys Who's Who. Her current research interests are in childhood sexual victimization, domestic violence, and sexual assault among at-risk populations. She was recently awarded a National Institute of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research minority supplement to explore gender differences, safe sex behaviors, risky sexual behaviors, and sexual self-concept between homeless adolescents who report a history of sexual abuse and those who don't. In addition to her research, Dr. Johnson teaches ethics in health care, public health nursing and volunteers once a week as health educator at a homeless adolescent clinic.

MICHAEL W. ROSS

Dr. Michael Ross is Professor of Public Health at The University of Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health. His research interests are in sexual behavior, substance abuse, and STD and HIV risk behaviors, as well as public health in correctional settings. He was one of the three editors of the U.S. Surgeon-General's “Call to Action on Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior” and received the Kinsey Award in 2003 from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexual Behavior.

WENDELL C. TAYLOR

Dr. Wendell Taylor is a tenured Associate Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Promotion at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research. Also, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the College of Education and Graduate Studies at the University of Houston, and Associate Professor in the Communications Department at Texas Southern University. He received his A.B. from Grinnell College, his M.S. in Psychology from Eastern Washington University, his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University, and his M.P.H. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health. In addition, he completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Health Promotion and Health Education at the Center for Health Promotion Research and Development, University of Texas. Dr. Taylor has received outstanding faculty awards for research and scholarship. He has been the principal investigator of grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Cancer Institute, American Heart Association, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Currently, he serves on the American Cancer Society's Psychosocial, Behavioral, and Policy Research Committee, National Advisory Committee for Active Living Policy and Environmental Studies, and Medical and Research Advisory Committee for The Council on Alcohol and Drugs-Houston. His research interests include health promotion in adolescents, physical activity determinants and interventions, and health behaviors in underserved communities. Dr. Taylor has authored and coauthored book chapters and scientific publications in scholarly journals. Dr. Taylor coedited a book published by the American Psychological Association, Division of Health Psychology entitled, Health-Promoting and Health-Compromising Behaviors Among Minority Adolescents.

MARK L. WILLIAMS

Dr. Mark Williams is Professor of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health. He has been awarded a number of NIDA-sponsored and State of Texas funded research grants. Dr. Williams has conducted studies on STDs, HIV and drug use epidemiology, peer network structures and their relationship to HIV infection, cognitive and emotive models of HIV risk reduction, and, most recently, the secondary prevention of HIV in HIV-positive drug users.

RAUL I. CARVAJAL

Dr. Raul Carvajal is the Director of the HIV and the Substance Abuse Programs in the Harris County Jail, Houston, Texas. His research interests are in HIV prevention and substance abuse. He has been working with incarcerated populations for more than 15 years. He has been awarded the MacAdory Award from the AIDS Equity League for outstanding services to the HIV incarcerated community and the 2001 Bradley-Scott Award by the Harris County Hospital District for efforts in greatly impacting health care services in the community.

RONALD J. PETERS

Dr. Ronald Peters is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health. Dr. Peters has held faculty appointments at the University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance, Houston Baptist University Center for Health Studies, Prairie View A&M University Department of Health and Human Performance, and Texas Southern University Department of Health Sciences. He also served as the director of the Historically Black College Applied Research initiative with the Southwest Prevention Center and was the principal investigator of the “Houston Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program” funded through the National Institute of Justice. Dr. Peters has published numerous papers in the professional literature and has 10 years of experience in intervention design and evaluation of health promotion research among incarcerated and adolescent populations. In addition, he received the year 2000 Golden Key Honor Society Distinguished Faculty Award for distinguished service at the University of Houston.