| Incarcerated women report significantly higher rates of interpersonal violence, PTSD symptoms, and substance use disorders compared to the general population. Exposure to interpersonal violence is associated with PTSD and maladaptive behaviors such as substance use and engagement in risky behaviors. However, less is known about mechanisms, such as emotion regulation and trauma coping self-efficacy, that increase or decrease the likelihood of these negative outcomes in this population. It is also unclear how PTSD affects these outcomes. The present study aimed to investigate the extent to which emotion regulation and trauma coping self-efficacy exert indirect effects on the relations between cumulative interpersonal violence exposure and negative outcomes among incarcerated women (N = 180) using Structural Equation Modeling. Women with a probable PTSD diagnosis were more likely to report higher difficulties with emotion regulation and lower coping self-efficacy compared to those without probable PTSD. Interpersonal violence also significantly predicted emotion dysregulation and increased engagement in risky behavior. Additionally, lower coping self-efficacy was associated with higher substance use. However, there were no significant indirect effects of emotion regulation and coping self-efficacy on substance use or risky behavior engagement. These findings demonstrate the importance of cumulative experiences of interpersonal violence and PTSD as predictors of maladaptive coping mechanisms and behaviors among incarcerated women. Understanding the role of trauma-related experiences has the potential to contribute to our knowledge of incarcerated women’s treatment and service utilization needs. Key words: interpersonal violence, PTSD, substance use, risky behaviors, incarcerated women. |