Differences in Psychosocial Distress by Gender and Length of Residency in Criminal Justice System Involved Men and Women in a Sober Living Environment

Symptoms of mental health and substance use disorders are prevalent for individuals involved in the criminal justice system (CJS). The purpose of this study was to examine the association between psychosocial distress for CJS-involved men and women residing in sober living environments. Participants were residents of North Carolina Oxford Houses who indicated previous involvement in the criminal justice system (N = 353). With the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs-Short Screener (GAIN-SS), three types of psychosocial distress were operationally defined using the past-year symptom count on the subscales of (1) internalizing mental health disorders, (2) externalizing mental health disorders, and (3) substance use disorders. A multiple linear regression was conducted for each of these three psychological distress variables. Results of each linear regression analysis revealed gender and length of stay were significantly associated with increased symptom counts in both men and women. An interaction effect between gender and length of stay was also observed. That is, for each of three subscales, the simple slope tests revealed a significant negative association between length of residency at Oxford House and subscale scores for females and males, but the length of residency at Oxford House was more strongly related to the subscales scores for females.