Journal article
The Age-Graded Consequences of Justice System Involvement for Mental Health
The journal of research in crime and delinquency, v 59(2)
01 Mar 2022
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Objectives: Drawing on the life course and social stress perspectives, this paper examines age variation in the mental health consequences of justice system involvement by assessing arrest, conviction, or incarceration as possible age-graded stressors that amplify harm at younger ages of involvement. Methods: Individual fixed effect regression models utilizing National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997) data test whether age moderates the mental health impact of arrest, conviction, or incarceration. Follow-up analyses for moderated associations compute and compare age-specific relationships to identify differences in the significance and magnitude of mental health consequences for contacts spanning late adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood. Results: The incarceration-mental health relationship is moderated by age, as significant harms to mental health are exclusively observed following secure confinement in late adolescence (ages 16-17) and emerging adulthood (18-24), but not in adulthood (25-33). The lack of moderation between arrest and mental health indicates a universally harmful experience at all ages. Conclusions: Evidence supports conceptualizing incarceration as an age-graded social stressor that is correlated with pronounced harm to mental health during late adolescence and emerging adulthood. Future research should identify the mechanisms of this unique stress response following earlier incarcerations and its long-term salience for processes of cumulative disadvantage.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- The Age-Graded Consequences of Justice System Involvement for Mental Health
- Creators
- Kathleen Powell - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- The journal of research in crime and delinquency, v 59(2)
- Publisher
- Sage
- Number of pages
- 36
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Criminology and Justice Studies
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000669639900001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85122164387
- Other Identifier
- 991019168455704721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Criminology & Penology