Do local geographic characteristics moderate the association between familial incarceration and adolescent depression and anxiety?

backgroundChildren who have, or have had, an incarcerated parent/s are at increased risk for mental health issues. However, most research has focused on the impact of incarcerated parents and not accounted for noncustodial family members’ criminal-legal justice system involvement or how neighborhood characteristics such as area deprivation (ADI: income, education, and housing quality), environmental justice (EJI: environmental burden, social and health vulnerability), or urbanicity (RUCA) may affect these relationships. To address these gaps, we investigated the association of familial incarceration (FI: parent-caregiver, parent-caregiver + another relative, or noncustodial relatives) and depression and anxiety and the role of neighborhood characteristics in these associations.

methodsData are baseline survey responses, geocoded and linked to geospatial indices of ADI, EJI, and urbanicity of high school students enrolled in a multisite study. GLMs assessed associations between FI and students’ depression and anxiety (CESD, GAD7) adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, state, and other family adversities (i.e., parent-caregiver substance use, mental illness, suicide intimate partner violence) and whether ADI, EJI or urbanicity moderated these relationships.

resultsThe sample (N = 1,736) was on average 15.71 (SD = 1.98) years old and evenly divided by sex. Over one third of students acknowledged FI, and approximately 50% and 75% experienced some symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively. Having a parent only (β = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.20–0.53); parent + another relative (β = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.11–0.48); or noncustodial relative (β = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.21–0.56) was associated with more frequent symptoms of depression and anxiety [(parent only β = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.23–0.53); parent + another relative (β = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.19–0.43); noncustodial relative (β = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.23–0.53)]; These relationships were most pronounced in rural vs. urban, high vs. low environmental vulnerability, and high vs. low ADI geographic contexts.

conclusionsOur findings suggest youth whose family members are involved in the criminal-legal justice systems are more vulnerable to experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety than their peers and that living in disadvantaged contexts can exacerbate this association. Improving the health and wellbeing of this youth population will require cross disciplinary efforts that inform the development and delivery of support services designed to meet the needs of impacted adolescents.