| Individuals who have been incarcerated have significantly more adverse childhood
experiences (ACES; Baglivio et al., 2014) than the general public, high risk of suicidality (Dye,
2010), high rates of substance use disorders (Sawyer & Wagner, 2022), and high rates of PTSD
(Fovet et al., 2021). Extant research has used latent class analyses to identify classes of adversity
(e.g., ACE exposures) in both general public and incarcerated populations. However, the existing
studies do not include key trauma related distress variables of PTSD, suicidality, and SUD
concurrently as predictors, and few examine gender differences in adversity profiles. Additionally,
few studies have examined the relation between adversity classes and criminal legal system
involvement. The current study used latent profile analysis to identify latent profiles of overall
“psychological hardship”, including adversity, PTSD, suicidality, and substance use, in both men
and women. Logistic regression was used to examine which profiles are most strongly associated
with criminal legal system involvement. Results showed that the overall sample had four latent
profiles of psychological hardship while the women had three and the men had four profiles.
Further, membership in profiles with greater psychological hardship was significantly associated
with increased likelihood of past year arrest. For example, individuals likely to be in the high
psychological hardship groups were five to twelve times more likely to have been arrested in the
past year compared to those most likely to be in the “low psychological hardship” groups. These
results suggest that more extensive psychological hardship is a significant risk factor for arrest and
should be considered when deciding how to decrease or prevent criminal legal system involvement
and provide services for those already involved with the system.
Keywords: Trauma; Adversity; PTSD; Suicidality; Substance Use; Gender; Incarceration |