The Impact of Criminal-Legal Involvement on Mental Health: Findings from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

• In Event: Police Contact and Health

Abstract

Prior research has found that incarceration has a negative effect on mental health. However, the impact of a continuum of criminal-legal involvement in young adulthood, specifically arrest, incarceration and probation, is unclear. Using longitudinal data from eight waves of the Transition to Adulthood Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), (n=13890), we aim to identify the association between arrest, incarceration, and probation and the mental health of adolescents. Mental health was measured as a scale of survey responses related to social, psychological, and emotional wellbeing. We calculate the cumulative incidence of experiencing criminal legal involvement by race, ethnicity, gender, income, and education. We then use bivariate analyses to explore the relationship between criminal legal involvement and each mental health sub-scale, stratified by type of involvement. Using linear regression with separate models for arrest, incarceration, and probation, we assess the relationship between criminal legal involvement and mental health. Achieving a more nuanced understanding of the impacts of carceral systems allows researchers, clinicians, and advocates to explore the public health costs of mass incarceration and close health equity gaps for an underserved population.

Authors

• Morgan Maner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Katherine LeMasters, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill