RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Mental Health and Social Correlates of Reincarceration of Youths as Adults
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP JAAPL.240039-24
DO 10.29158/JAAPL.240039-24
A1 Buchanan, Alec
A1 Zhou, Bin
A1 Rhee, Taeho Greg
A1 Stefanovics, Elina A.
A1 Rosenheck, Robert
YR 2024
UL http://jaapl.org/content/early/2024/07/24/JAAPL.240039-24.abstract
AB The rise in the U.S. prison population over the past 40 years has heightened scrutiny of the incarceration of children and adolescents. Correlates of later reincarceration in this group, especially correlates relating to psychiatric and substance use disorders, are understudied in the U.S. population. We aimed to establish the prevalence and correlates of the reincarceration as adults of people incarcerated before age 18. Data were derived from clinical interviews and from validated diagnostic and psychometric instruments. They were obtained as part of a cross-sectional representative survey of the civilian U.S. population, the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-III). We identified 1,543 adults (4.3% of the NESARC sample) who had been incarcerated before they were 18. Of these, 55.9 percent had subsequently been incarcerated as adults. In addition to variables that have been repeatedly identified in criminological research (less education, past antisocial behavior, and parental imprisonment), substance use disorder, bipolar disorder, and longer childhood incarceration were independently associated with incarceration as an adult. The possibility that psychiatric treatment could reduce reincarceration in this group warrants longitudinal and experimental research.