Citation

Chen G, Gueta K. Int. J. Law Psychiatry 2015; 39: 36-45.

Affiliation

Department of Criminology, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijlp.2015.01.019

PMID

25660063

Abstract

The mental health problems and pathways to drug addiction and crime among female inmates have long been of interest to researchers and practitioners. The purpose of the current study was to examine the possible association between multiple types of childhood abuse, mental health problems, and drug addiction and the incarceration of 50 Israeli women in prison. The findings indicated that female inmates come from risky families with a high prevalence of family mental health problems, parental drug addiction and crime, and sibling drug addiction and crime. Furthermore, they revealed that incarcerated women from risky families were victims of multiple types of childhood abuse and neglect by their parents, as well as their siblings. Overall, the results suggest that the adverse consequences of a family's mental health problems are much more dramatic than we assumed to date, and that women are more likely than men to be the victims of multiple types of childhood abuse and neglect, as well as suffering more severe psychiatric problems, depression, and drug addiction. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Language: en