The Association Between Anxiety and Time to Community Release in a Sample of Incarcerated Women

• Author: Dawn M. Pflugradt,Bradley P. Allen,Stephanie Butler
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00328855221109817

The Association

Between Anxiety and

Time to Community

Release in a Sample of

Incarcerated Women

Dawn M. Pflugradt

1

, Bradley

P. Allen

2

, and Stephanie Butler

3

Abstract

Although the sociocultural factors impeding successful community re-inte-

gration for incarcerated women have been researched extensively, few stud-

ies have examined associated psychological influences. This study explored if

there was a relationship between self-reported symptoms of anxiety and

time to release from prison for a sample of incarcerated women. The results

revealed that total self-reported symptoms of anxiety increased as time to

release from prison decreased for all offenders regardless of the indepen-

dent/predictor variable with the exception of age at index offense. The

total scores of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) increased as the partici-

pants’age at time of index offenses decreased.

Keywords

anxiety, incarcerated women, community re-integration

1

Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Appleton, WI, USA

2

Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, Madison, WI, USA

3

St. Louis Community College, Wildwood, MO, USA

Corresponding Author:

Dawn M. Pflugradt, Wisconsin Department of Corrections/Division of Community Corrections,

5600 W. Grande Market Drive, Appleton, Wisconsin, 54913, USA..

Email: dawnm.pflugradt@wisconsin.gov

Article

The Prison Journal

2022, Vol. 102(4) 458–473

© 2022 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00328855221109817

journals.sagepub.com/home/tpj

Introduction

Although the challenges associated with successful community re-integration

can be difficult for all incarcerated individuals, it has been well-documented

that they are particularly arduous for female offenders (Cobbina, 2010;

Salisbury & Van Voorhis, 2009; Severance, 2004; Wright et al., 2012).

As described by numerous studies, women who commit crimes have to

cope with the same social barriers as males but usually with less education

and vocational training, fewer employment experiences, and more limited

financial resources (Pflugradt et al., 2018; Van Voorhis et al., 2010). In addi-

tion, incarcerated women are more likely than men to be the primary caregiv-

ers of children immediately after release, often with little or no support

(Arditti & Few, 2006; Brown & Bloom, 2009; Shortt et al., 2014; Tuerk &

Loper, 2006).

Female offenders are also often “uniquely”affected by a history of victim-

ization, substance abuse, and both physical and mental health problems (Van

Voorhis et al., 2010). Ironically, women re-entering the community (follow-

ing incarceration) confront many of the same problems or issues that contrib-

uted to their incarceration (Brown & Bloom, 2009). As Severance (2004)

proffered, “the social and economic marginality of women make the effects

of imprisonment even more devastating”(p. 75). Thus, despite the similar

sociocultural challenges confronting both females and males following

release from incarceration, females often have gender-specific issues that

further hinder desistance and re-integration (Covington, 1998; Freudenberg

et al., 2008; Salisbury & Van Voorhis, 2009; Van Voorhis et al., 2010).

These gender-specific challenges confronting female offenders when

re-entering the community were described by Salisbury and Van Voorhis

(2009) within a gendered pathway paradigm. By utilizing interview and

survey data, they identified three models leading to incarceration as well as

affecting desistence/recidivism. The first model, childhood victimization,

examined how the associations between a history of childhood abuse,

mental illness and substance abuse resulted in continued offending. Their ana-

lyzes indicated that even though childhood victimization was not directly

related to incarceration, it had an indirect influence due to the resultant psy-

chological effects experienced in adulthood. That is, women who experienced

childhood trauma were at risk of developing major mental health problems,

especially depression, anxiety, and addictive behaviors which were directly

related to recidivism (Salisbury & Van Voorhis, 2009). It is this anxiety

and other associated mental health concerns that have an impact on recidivism

by becoming a barrier to successful social integration (Shinkfield & Graffam,

2010).

Pflugradt et al. 459