Effects of Cumulative Disadvantage On Psychosocial Health of Incarcerated Parents

Introduction: A growing body of literature has considered incarcerated adults’ disadvantaged past and compromised mental health as well as the association between prison environment and worse physical health outcomes. Despite growing knowledge in this field, cumulative effects of multiple disadvantages on incarcerated parents’ mental health remain relatively under-investigated. Informed by life course framework and cumulative disadvantage theory, we examined the impact of cumulative disadvantage on incarcerated parents’ mental health and the extent perceived emotional support moderated this relationship. We hypothesized that higher cumulative disadvantage score is positively associated with poor mental health, and stronger perception of emotional support reduces the strength of this relationship.

 Methods: Using data from the Oregon Social Learning Center’s Parent Child Study (N=359), we conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses to test the hypothesized linkages. Participants in this study were incarcerated parents of at least one child between the ages of 3 and 11, 41% of them being a racial/ethnic minority. Cumulative disadvantage was measured as the sum of childhood adversities (family history of criminal behavior and substance abuse, poverty, foster care experience and history of juvenile delinquency) and adult adversities (exposures to violence and socioeconomic disadvantage). Mental health was measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) questionnaire, and perceived emotional support was measured by the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ).

 Results: Bivariate regression reveals that higher cumulative disadvantage is associated with worse mental health outcomes (beta = 0.02, t(317) =3.07, p<0.001). Multivariate regression controlling for length of prison stay indicated cumulative disadvantage, gender and lack of emotional support were related to worse mental health. Additionally, females were more likely to suffer worse mental health compared to males (beta = -0.17, t(317)= -3.35, p<.001). An increase in perceived emotional support was also associated with lower depression score (beta= -0.16, t(313)= -3.92, p<.001) but was not significantly associated with anxiety.

 Conclusions: Understanding of the etiology of poor mental health and the protective role of emotional support in systems-involved parents has implications for the optimization of preventive approaches, focusing particularly in ways to foster emotional support for this population and for their children, who are also at risk for poor mental health outcomes, and particularly for antisocial behavior and consequences related to such.