Risk Profiles of Women Experiencing Initial and Repeat Incarcerations: Implications for Prevention Programs

• Published in: AIDS education and prevention 2016-08, Vol.28 (4), p.299-311
• Main Authors: Herbst, Jeffrey H, Branscomb-Burgess, Olivia, Gelaude, Deborah J, Seth, Puja, Parker, Sharon, Fogel, Catherine I
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS); Adult; Adults; AIDS; Bivariate analysis; Childhood; Children; Cocaine; Correctional Institutions; Crack Cocaine; Criminals; Demographic variables; Demographics; Demography; Departments; Depression; Disease Control; Drug abuse; Drug Use; Economic development; Economic factors; Economics; Family Planning; Female; Female offenders; Females; Health risk assessment; HIV; HIV Infections - prevention & control; Housing; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Imprisonment; Intervention; Justice; Logistic Models; Mental depression; Mental Health; North Carolina; Nursing; Prevention; Prevention programs; Prisoners; Prisons; Recidivism; Regression analysis; Risk; Risk reduction; Risk taking; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Partners; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - prevention & control; Social programs; Social Support Groups; Stability; STD; Substance abuse; Substance Abuse, Intravenous - epidemiology; Substance use; Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Symptoms; Victimization; Victims; Victims of Crime; Violence; Women; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0899-9546; 1943-2755
• DOI: 10.1521/aeap.2016.28.4.299

Incarcerated women experience myriad individual, interpersonal, and structural factors leading to arrest and rearrest. This study examined risk profiles of women experiencing initial and repeat incarcerations. The sample included 521 women recruited from two prisons in North Carolina and enrolled in a HIV/STD risk-reduction intervention trial. Variables included socio-demographics, structural/economic factors, sexual and substance use behaviors, STDs, victimization history, and depressive symptoms. Bivariate and multivariable analyses identified risk differences. Compared to women incarcerated for the first time, women with repeat incarcerations reported significantly greater economic instability, substance use and sexual risk behaviors, laboratory-confirmed STDs, and victimization during childhood and adulthood. Multivariable logistic regression found women with repeat incarcerations experienced greater unstable housing, injection drug use, crack cocaine use, concurrent sex partners, and childhood sexual victimization. Findings can inform the development of prevention programs by addressing economic instability, sexual risk, and substance use among women prisoners.