published_or_final_version / abstract / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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The extremely high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by Black women in community supervision programs (CSPs) who use drugs represents a major public health concern given the vast overrepresentation of Black women in the criminal legal system compared to non-Hispanic white women due to racialized drug laws and policies. National IPV surveillance data suggest that the rates of IPV in this population may be even higher among Black women who have sex with women and men (WSWM) in CSPs who use drugs. However, there remains a dearth of research that centers the experience of Black WSWM. Fear of experiencing police violence and experiences of racial and sexual discrimination pose additional challenges for Black WSMW in CSPs who use drugs to access both IPV and a broader range of services. No studies, to date, have examined typologies of IPV and its association to accessing IPV-related services among Black women with multiple intersecting minoritized identities including substance use, sexual behavior, and criminal-legal involvement. To address these gaps, this dissertation: 1) Identified typologies of IPV; 2) Examined how membership to latent classes is associated with use of core IPV services; and 3) Explored underlying mechanisms that may link IPV class, sexual behavior, and access to and utilization of IPV-related services. This dissertation study uses a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach with 1) secondary baseline survey data from Project EWORTH, a NIDA-funded HIV intervention study of 352 Black, drug-involved women mandated to CSPs and 2) primary qualitative follow-up data with participants from the same study to inform findings from the secondary data analysis. This dissertation found positive significant associations between having had both male and female sexual partners and more types and greater severity of IPV. Additionally, there was a significant, positive association between more types and greater severity of IPV and lifetime use of an order of protection. WSWM had a significantly higher odds of lifetime use of a DV shelter. Of interest, WSWM moderated the effect of people experiencing more severe violence accessing DV shelters. Qualitative interviews revealed unique forms of IPV such as feeling coerced to take a criminal charge for their partner and spiritual abuse, both of which are not captured with standard IPV measures or discussed broadly in IPV literature. Additionally, CSP staff served as an important link to services among these women. Overall, these results suggest that more inclusive IPV screening, referral to service, and actual services, as well as providing training for service providers that consider the effects of multiple, marginalized identities has on experience of IPV, and access to and use of services among Black women in the criminal legal system.

Este trabalho de pesquisa teve como objetivo geral compreender a experiência da maternidade em usuárias de crack. Como objetivos específicos a descrição de como se deu a experiência nessas mulheres sobre o saber/sentir grávida e a compreensão de como se apresentou o cuidado dos filhos e o cuidado de si. Os sujeitos participantes foram mulheres mães usuárias de crack. A metodologia empregada foi a qualitativa embasada na fenomenológica existencial. Para tanto, foram colhidas as narrativas dos sujeitos participantes, bem como, a narrativa da pesquisadora, frente ao seu afetar-se no encontro com essas mulheres, no seu campo-ação. Foram entrevistadas cinco mulheres. O marco teórico tomou autores como Heidegger, Foucault e Benjamin. A análise dos resultados considerou a hermenêutica filosófica de Gadamer. Como resultado apresentou o desvelamento do universo singular das mulheres nas suas experiências com a maternidade. Pudemos apreender o fenômeno de não sentir-se mãe nas suas narrativas. Assim como, o fenômeno do abandono, da rejeição, do estigma, da violência e a relação estabelecida com a substância onde possibilitou refletir sobre a forma ôntica do viver na atualidade. / This research had as main objective to understand the experience of motherhood in crack smokers. Specific description of how was the experience of these women know / feel pregnant and understanding how it presented the child care and self-care goals. The subjects were mothers of women crack users. The methodology was qualitative grounded in existential phenomenology. Thus, we collected narratives of research subjects, as well as the narrative of the researcher, is facing its affect on the meeting with these women, through their action. Five women were interviewed. The theoretical framework authors took as Heidegger, Foucault and Benjamin. The analysis considered the philosophical hermeneutics of Gadamer. As a result presented the unveiling of the unique universe of women in their experiences with motherhood. Could not grasp the phenomenon of mother feel in their narratives. As the phenomenon of abandonment, rejection, stigma, violence and the relationship established with the substance where possible to reflect on the ontic way of living today.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:08:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 maria_socorro_bastos.pdf: 895607 bytes, checksum: d0237f69d8cf9409984f3f21b0a2351a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-10-27 / This research had as main objective to understand the experience of motherhood in crack smokers. Specific description of how was the experience of these women know / feel pregnant and understanding how it presented the child care and self-care goals. The subjects were mothers of women crack users. The methodology was qualitative grounded in existential phenomenology. Thus, we collected narratives of research subjects, as well as the narrative of the researcher, is facing its affect on the meeting with these women, through their action. Five women were interviewed. The theoretical framework authors took as Heidegger, Foucault and Benjamin. The analysis considered the philosophical hermeneutics of Gadamer. As a result presented the unveiling of the unique universe of women in their experiences with motherhood. Could not grasp the phenomenon of mother feel in their narratives. As the phenomenon of abandonment, rejection, stigma, violence and the relationship established with the substance where possible to reflect on the ontic way of living today. / Este trabalho de pesquisa teve como objetivo geral compreender a experiência da maternidade em usuárias de crack. Como objetivos específicos a descrição de como se deu a experiência nessas mulheres sobre o saber/sentir grávida e a compreensão de como se apresentou o cuidado dos filhos e o cuidado de si. Os sujeitos participantes foram mulheres mães usuárias de crack. A metodologia empregada foi a qualitativa embasada na fenomenológica existencial. Para tanto, foram colhidas as narrativas dos sujeitos participantes, bem como, a narrativa da pesquisadora, frente ao seu afetar-se no encontro com essas mulheres, no seu campo-ação. Foram entrevistadas cinco mulheres. O marco teórico tomou autores como Heidegger, Foucault e Benjamin. A análise dos resultados considerou a hermenêutica filosófica de Gadamer. Como resultado apresentou o desvelamento do universo singular das mulheres nas suas experiências com a maternidade. Pudemos apreender o fenômeno de não sentir-se mãe nas suas narrativas. Assim como, o fenômeno do abandono, da rejeição, do estigma, da violência e a relação estabelecida com a substância onde possibilitou refletir sobre a forma ôntica do viver na atualidade.

Perinatal complications resulting from either alcohol or drug abuse include a high incidence of stillbirths, fetal distress, asphyxia, prematurity, low birth weight, pneumonia, congenital malformations, cerebral infarction, and an increased risk to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

The purpose of the study was to determine the extent environmental problems such as family history of substance abuse, loneliness and lack of support contribute to high levels of depression for substance abusing women seeking recovery in residential treatment facilities.

Substance abusing women with children are a diverse group, but some of them are among the most disadvantaged individuals in the United States. These women are in dire need of effective treatment modalities in order to sustain sobriety. Using a quantitative research design, this study examines the perception of motivation in the recovery process among African American women with children. Through research surveys these women identify the motivating factors necessary for successful treatment outcomes. Scales were created to measure extrinsic motivators, intrinsic motivators, and barriers to treatment. Factors examined included attendance at twelve step meetings, church attendance, court mandates, family support, assistance from Children's Services Workers, participation in residential and outpatient treatment programs, training in life skills such as assertivenesss, stress management, effective communication, vocational skills, and parenting, and intrinsic spiritual beliefs. The study also examined barriers to treatment such as lack of transporation, child care, employment, housing and money.

This study examines the effects of gender and social bonds on the experience of prescription painkiller misuse for men and women. The theoretical framework for the project is Travis Hirschi's social control theory (1969), and the social bond elements of attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief, which emphasizes the importance of these bonds in creating a "stake in conformity" for the individual, leading to acceptance of social norms and desistence from deviance. This theory, however, is relatively silent with regard to gender differences and was developed to examine delinquency in an all male sample of adolescents. The elements of this theory were used to further test the effects of these social bonds and add to the literature gap on the gendered experience of the misuse of prescription painkillers. Data for this project comes from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual nationally representative, cross-sectional survey. Multivariate logistic regression analyses reveal that, being white, not being married, having less than a high school diploma, a having a job are all significant predictors of increased prescription painkiller misuse. Characteristics associated with a significant decrease in the odds of misusing prescription painkillers are being older, having a college degree, and placing importance on religious/spiritual beliefs. Multivariate logistic regression also reveals that female respondents are less likely to misuse prescription painkillers than are their male counterparts. Interaction effects are operationalized to measure the relationship between gender and the social bond elements of interest. Most of the interaction effects are not statistically significant, but some of the main effects remain significant, which indicates that the main effect has little impact on prescription painkiller misuse for women, but remains significant for men (marriage, education, work status). Significant interaction effects are found for gender (female) x income and gender (female) x religiosity, which indicates that for both men and women, increased income and higher levels of religiosity are significantly associated with decreased odds of prescription painkiller misuse, that the effect is stronger for women and that this difference between men and women is significant. These results provide further insight into the experiences of prescription painkiller misuse for men and women.

Criminalization, and other forms of punishment, are at the core of the current policy response to prenatal drug use in the United States (U.S.). However, evidence has repeatedly shown that interventions founded on deterrence principles—the idea that punishments deter crimes—more commonly harm rather than advance public health goals. In three aims, this dissertation examines several consequences of prenatal drug use criminalization, first, through a review of the current policy and evidence base (Chapter 2), followed by two empirical studies testing for adverse effects of state-level prenatal drug use criminalization on pregnant people’s participation in drug treatment (Chapter 3) and pregnancy care (Chapter 4). First, in Chapter 2, the legal survey found that by 2022, nearly half of U.S. states had implemented one or more punitive policies, demonstrating that a significant number of pregnant people are vulnerable to the carceral and child custody-related implications of these laws. Moreover, the review of the corresponding literature found that while existing research consistently identified few benefits of punitive law adoption, evidence for potential negative repercussions, including on drug treatment utilization, pregnancy and birth-related outcomes, and family separation, was inconsistent, supporting the need for additional research. In Chapter 3, analyses of national drug treatment program data from 1992 to 2019, revealed that contrary to legislative intent, prenatal drug use criminalization was associated with a decrease in pregnancy-specific drug treatment admissions. Post-criminalization declines were limited to admissions for opioid and amphetamine use in criminalization states, rather than for non- criminalized substances like alcohol, supporting the validity of the primary finding. Further, while treatment reductions appeared to be concentrated among low-income pregnant people receiving public assistance, similar reductions were not observed among pregnant people of color, in contrast to expectations. Lastly, Chapter 4 used birth certificate information from 1989 to 2019, to investigate a potential unintended consequence of prenatal drug use criminalization—reductions in pregnancy care. Results indicated that criminalization was associated with a meaningful decrease in the prevalence of any prenatal care, and a likely, though imprecise, decrease in the prevalence of healthcare facility-based delivery. Results further suggested potential post-criminalization decreases in prenatal care timeliness, but not adequacy, measures defined in terms of the trimester of initiation and the completed number of recommended visits, respectively. The findings from this dissertation support the hypothesis that policies criminalizing prenatal drug use discourage pregnant people from participating in drug treatment and from some types of pregnancy care. Criminalization is therefore a public health strategy that appears to be not only ineffective, but also overtly counterproductive, to the goal of preventing potential harms associated with prenatal drug use.