Schneider Karen, Richters Juliet, Butler Tony, Yap Lorraine, Richards Alun, Grant Luke, Smith Anthony M A, Donovan Basil
The Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Crim Behav Ment Health. 2011 Dec;21(5):333-49. doi: 10.1002/cbm.816. Epub 2011 Jun 14.
Prison populations are made up of individuals from disadvantaged, often abusive backgrounds, who are more likely to suffer from psychological problems than the general community.
This study aimed to determine associations between current psychological distress and history of having experienced sexual coercion and/or physical assault among prisoners in two Australian states (Queensland and New South Wales).
We conducted a random sample survey of prisoners by computer-assisted telephone interview. Prisoners were asked about forced sexual encounters in or outside prison, and physical assault in prison. Psychological distress was estimated using a dichotomised score obtained from the Kessler 6-Item Psychological Distress Scale (K6), and a logistic regression analysis was employed to investigate associations.
A total of 2426 prisoners were interviewed of 3055 prisoners invited to participate, a response rate of 79%. We categorised 236 men (12%) and 63 women (19%) as 'severely' psychologically distressed according to the K6, and 13% of the men and 60% of the women reported that they had been sexually coerced prior to imprisonment. Physical assault in prison was common, reported by 34% of the men and 24% of the women. On multivariate analysis, prisoners were more likely to be psychologically distressed if they had ever been threatened with sexual assault in prison or physically assaulted in prison. Sexual coercion outside prison was an important associate of psychological distress among men but not among women.
As psychological distress and experiences of assault are closely statistically linked among male prisoners and both are very common among female prisoners, their screening for psychological distress should include efforts to find out about sexual and violent assaults against them both before and during imprisonment. Further, longitudinal research with prisoners is required to establish causal relationships.
监狱人口由来自弱势、通常是虐待背景的个人组成，他们比普通社区的人更容易患心理问题。
本研究旨在确定澳大利亚两个州（昆士兰州和新南威尔士州）的囚犯当前心理困扰与曾遭受性胁迫和/或身体攻击史之间的关联。
我们通过计算机辅助电话访谈对囚犯进行了随机抽样调查。询问囚犯在监狱内外是否有被迫性接触以及在监狱内是否遭受身体攻击。使用从凯斯勒6项心理困扰量表（K6）获得的二分法得分来估计心理困扰，并采用逻辑回归分析来研究关联。
在邀请参与的3055名囚犯中，共访谈了2426名囚犯，回复率为79%。根据K6，我们将236名男性（12%）和63名女性（19%）归类为“严重”心理困扰，13%的男性和60%的女性报告称他们在入狱前曾遭受性胁迫。监狱内的身体攻击很常见，34%的男性和24%的女性报告有过此类情况。多变量分析显示，如果囚犯曾在监狱中受到性攻击威胁或遭受身体攻击，他们更有可能出现心理困扰。监狱外的性胁迫是男性心理困扰的重要关联因素，但女性并非如此。
由于男性囚犯的心理困扰与攻击经历在统计学上密切相关，且两者在女性囚犯中都很常见，因此对他们进行心理困扰筛查应包括努力了解他们在入狱前和入狱期间遭受的性暴力和暴力攻击情况。此外，需要对囚犯进行纵向研究以建立因果关系。
