Correlates of incarceration history among military veterans
Abstract: Veterans with histories of incarceration are at greater risk for poor physical and mental health outcomes, yet prior research in this population has focused on specific subsets of veterans or a narrow range of predictors. We utilized the Bronfenbrenner Socioecological Model as the framework to evaluate correlates of incarceration history in a large sample of Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans at four levels: demographic, historical, clinical, and contextual. Participants were 2,904 veterans (76.9% male; 49.5% White and 46.5% Black; mean age 38.08, SD = 10.33), 700 of whom reported a history of incarceration. Four logistic regression models predicting history of incarceration were tested, adding demographic, historical, clinical, and contextual variables hierarchically. In the final model, younger age (OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.98–1.00), male gender (OR of being female = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.21–0.38), belonging to a historically marginalized group (OR of being White = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.56–0.84), family history of incarceration (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.10–1.94), adult interpersonal trauma (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.28–1.51), problematic alcohol use (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.02–1.05), drug abuse (OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.11–1.19), and unemployment (OR for being employed = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.62–0.92) were significantly associated with a history of incarceration. Implications of these Findings for developing interventions and supporting systems to effectively target this high-risk population of veterans are discussed.