ABSTRACT
Suicidal ideation and suicide-related behavior among community-supervised offenders are significant public health problems. In a sample of 418 subjects served by the community corrections office of Iowa's Sixth Judicial District, 56 percent of subjects denied suicidal ideation and suicide-related behavior (control group), 17 percent reported suicidal ideation without suicide-related behavior (ideator group), and 27 percent reported engaging in suicide-related behavior (actor group). A model comprising five independent variables differentiated the ideator and actor groups from the control group: Caucasian race, depressive symptom sum, brain injury, childhood trauma, and avoidant personality. These five factors, combined with the additional variables of PCL:SV Factor 2 (Psychopathy Checklist-Screening Version) score and lifetime anxiety disorder, differentiated the actor group from the control group.
Subject(s)
Brain Injuries/diagnosis , Brain Injuries/psychology , Community Mental Health Services/legislation & jurisprudence , Deinstitutionalization/legislation & jurisprudence , Life Change Events , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Mental Disorders/psychology , Prisoners/legislation & jurisprudence , Prisoners/psychology , Suicidal Ideation , Suicide, Attempted/legislation & jurisprudence , Suicide, Attempted/psychology , Adult , Antisocial Personality Disorder/diagnosis , Antisocial Personality Disorder/epidemiology , Antisocial Personality Disorder/psychology , Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis , Anxiety Disorders/epidemiology , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Brain Injuries/epidemiology , Child , Comorbidity , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder/epidemiology , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Female , Humans , Iowa , Male , Mass Screening/legislation & jurisprudence , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Prisoners/statistics & numerical data , Risk Factors , Suicide, Attempted/statistics & numerical data , Young AdultABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to quantify the relative contributions of gender and traumatic life experience to psychiatric disorders in a sample of 320 offenders entering a state prison. Women were more likely than men to report traumatic events and personal and family mental health treatment histories; and were more likely to meet criteria for posttraumatic stress, borderline personality, and eating disorders. People reporting traumatic life experiences were more likely than those not so reporting to have family mental histories and to meet criteria for mood, anxiety, psychotic, antisocial personality, and borderline personality disorders, as well as elevated suicide risk. With both gender and trauma included in the logistic regression models, only trauma was a significant predictor of mood, anxiety, psychotic, attention deficit hyperactivity, and antisocial personality disorders, as well as suicide risk. Trauma-informed programming, regardless of gender, is important for incarcerated offenders. To the extent that trauma is also criminogenic, these data suggest that women and men share the risk.
