title: The relationship between childhood abuse and psychosis for women prisoners: assessing the importance of frequency and type of victimization.
abstract: This study examines the relationship between childhood victimization and self-reported current symptoms of psychosis in an incarcerated female population in the United States. Participants are 159 randomly selected women incarcerated in two North Carolina state prisons. Participants completed a battery of self-report measures to assess childhood victimization and current and lifetime experience of audio/visual hallucinations and delusions. In accordance with the dose-response model, we hypothesized a predictive relationship between severity, frequency, and type of victimization and psychosis for this sample of women prisoners. Results indicate that women who experienced multi-victimization were 2.4 times more likely to report current symptoms of psychosis than other women prisoners who experienced only physical or sexual victimization in childhood. Likewise, a one-unit increase in frequency of childhood victimization was associated with a 3.2% increased likelihood of having reported symptoms of current psychosis. These results provide support for the dose-response model hypothesis that multi-victimization is an important predictor of psychosis for the women prisoner population. Results indicate that adjusting prison-based mental health services to address the relationship of childhood victimization and symptoms of psychosis may be a key factor in improving outcomes among this population.
authors: College of Social Work, Florida State University, 296 Champions Way, University Center C, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA, slc03k@my.fsu.edu.
authors: Stephanie C
authors: SC
authors: Kennedy
authors: Stephen J
authors: SJ
authors: Tripodi
authors: Carrie
authors: C
authors: Pettus-Davis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009657:North Carolina; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011330:Prisons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D057566:Self Report; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult