Psychiatric Disorders among African Americans and the Intersection of Personal and Familial Incarceration

Mass imprisonment is a key contributor to U.S. racial health disparities, but less research considers whether intersections of personal and familial incarceration factor into the patterning of mental illness for African Americans—a group disproportionately affected by mass imprisonment. This study examines gender variation in associations between personal and familial incarceration and psychiatric disorders among African Americans. Utilizing the National Survey of American Life (n = 3390), this study regressed (1) 12-month and (2) lifetime diagnoses of (a) any, (b) mood, (c) anxiety, or (d) substance-use disorder on mutually exclusive combinations of incarceration experience (i.e., none, personal incarceration, familial incarceration, or both). Personal/familial imprisonment was associated with higher odds of 12-month and lifetime mental illness with notable increases in anxiety for women, and substance-use for both groups. Personal incarceration was associated with greater likelihood of 12-month any, mood, and substance-use disorders for women and 12-month any, anxiety, and substance-use for men.