This study examined the relationship between drug use and violence among justiceinvolved women in Appalachian Kentucky. Goldstein’s (1985) conceptual framework was used as a theoretical guide in formulating the drugs and violence relationships. Therefore, three types of drug use and violence relationships were explored, including: 1) psychopharmacological violence; economic-compulsive violence; and 3) systemic violence. Although these drug-related violence typologies have been investigated, little research has been devoted to rural justice-involved women. Moreover, to date no studies have examined how these drug/violence relationships might be associated with behavioral health factors. Ergo, there were three aims of the current study. First, to build psychopharmacological, economic-compulsive, and systemic drug/violence predictive group models. Second, examine the associations between mental health symptomology and predicted group models. Third, examine the associations between infectious disease risk-factors and predicted group models. This study used secondary data from a NIDAfunded grant focused on risk reduction among high-risk incarcerated women in Appalachia (N=400). All study recruitment and data collection procedures were approved by the university IRB. Predicted drugs/violence groups were developed using a series of discriminant function analyses. Predicted group models were examined for associations with mental health symptomology and risk factors for infectious disease using a series of binary logistic regression analyses. Results indicated that rural justice-involved women can be discriminated into distinct drugs/violence subgroups, and the psychopharmacological group showed the greatest prevalence. In addition, several behavioral health factors were uniquely associated with the psychopharmacological group and the economic-compulsive group. These findings could offer novel considerations for theory development regarding the drug-related risks for violence victimization among rural justice-involved women. The current research may also inform future traditional substance use treatment (e.g., outpatient or residential) and jail-based treatment (e.g., brief intervention) for rural women. Implications for theory development, substance use treatment and policy, future research, and the social work profession were discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uky.edu/oai:uknowledge.uky.edu:csw_etds-1027 |
| Date | 01 January 2019 |
| Creators | Victor, Grant |
| Publisher | UKnowledge |
| Source Sets | University of Kentucky |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations--Social Work |
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