# Trauma Exposures Across the Life Course for Individuals Who Experience Incarceration:  A Latent Class Analysis

> **NIH NIH F31** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $32,598

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, with 2.2 million people currently behind
bars, 60% of whom are people of color.1–3 At the same time, there is an unprecedented political consensus to
develop strategies for reducing the incarcerated population and safely returning the majority of incarcerated
individuals to society.4 While there has been a substantial research focus on the potential of this population to
commit acts of violence post-release, this tells only half the story.5 This dissertation hopes to provide a more
complete picture of the role of violence in the lives of individuals released from prison – not only as
perpetrators of violence, but also as victims of violence throughout their lives. Research indicates that this
population experiences unusually high levels of exposure to trauma across the life course and that effective
post-release intervention will require trauma-informed service systems and trauma-specific interventions.6,7
Lifetime prevalence of PTSD is estimated to be 20-60% for incarcerated men,8–10 compared to 3.6% in
community samples.11 Few studies exist, however, documenting the types of trauma exposures,
developmental timing of the trauma exposures, and types of trauma symptoms experienced by incarcerated
individuals, especially men, as most trauma research to date has focused on incarcerated women.7 In order to
develop appropriate interventions that increase the likelihood that incarcerated individuals will be capable of
functioning in society after release, it is essential that knowledge about the specific nature of trauma for this
population be further developed. Data for this dissertation will be taken from a parent study performing a
randomized controlled trial (RCT) on a reentry intervention. The study sample consists of 2400 individuals
(90% male, 10% female) transitioning out of prisons in seven states. The parent study includes survey data
about the participants’ lifetime trauma experiences and current trauma symptoms, as well as a wealth of other
demographic and background information. The proposed study will use this data to document the numbers,
types, and timing of trauma exposures for this sample. First, it will identify distinct classes of study participants
based on lifetime trauma exposure. A latent class analysis (LCA)12 using the Trauma History Questionnaire
(THQ)13 will be used to determine if classes of participants are distinguished by number, type, and timing of
trauma exposure. Second, it will describe membership within latent classes according to demographic,
substance use, and criminal justice variables. Using covariates such as gender, race/ethnicity, current
substance use disorder, and type of conviction, predictors of latent class membership will be identified to
determine if certain individual characteristics increase the likelihood of belonging to certain subgroups. Lastly,
this study will analyze the relationships between latent class membership ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10465781
- **Project number:** 1F31MH129081-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Maria Morrison
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $32,598
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-03-01 → 2022-08-16

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10465781

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10465781, Trauma Exposures Across the Life Course for Individuals Who Experience Incarceration:  A Latent Class Analysis (1F31MH129081-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10465781. Licensed CC0.

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