Mental health status and its relationship with childhood trauma: The social cognitive theory and cognitive reserve hypothesis applied to incarcerated offenders

Background – Adult offenders in custody are more likely to have a mental illness and to have experienced childhood trauma than the general population. As with non-offenders, offenders who experience childhood trauma are more likely to develop mental illness. Social cognitive theory and the cognitive reserve hypothesis are two theoretical frameworks that could provide understanding around the relationship between childhood trauma and mental illness. Locus of control (LOC) is a construct within social cognitive theory, while cognitive and/or adaptive functioning are measures of cognitive reserve. There is a high prevalence of an external LOC and cognitive and/or adaptive impairments amongst offenders. At present, it is unknown how childhood trauma, mental illness, LOC, cognitive and/or adaptive impairment relate to recidivism, other offending behaviours and each other. «br /» Aims – The thesis has three main aims: (1) to determine the role childhood trauma, mental illness, LOC, cognitive and/or adaptive functioning may have on recidivism; (2) to explore the relationship between these variables; and, (3) to further clarify the relationship between childhood trauma and mental illness by examining the influence that LOC, cognitive and/or adaptive functioning have on this association. «br /» Method – Seventy-nine incarcerated adult male offenders were assessed for childhood trauma, mental health status, cognitive and adaptive functioning and LOC, using well accepted and validated measures. Descriptive statistics (means and SD) were presented for all the variables assessed (childhood trauma, mental health status, cognitive/adaptive functioning and LOC) and these results were compared both within the sample and with published studies using single sample and Welch t-tests. Using general linear regression, the role between these variables and recidivism and risk of future offending was investigated. Informed by social cognitive theory and cognitive reserve hypothesis and guided by results from a ‘k’ sample cluster analysis, mediation analyses were conducted, where the independent variable was childhood trauma, the dependent variable was mental illness and the mediating variables were LOC, cognitive and/or adaptive functioning.«br /» Results – Offenders with cognitive and/or adaptive impairment are more likely to report more severe mental health symptoms than those without impairment. Mental illness, cognitive and/or adaptive impairment and an external LOC were associated with higher risk of re-offending. Specific types of childhood trauma demonstrated a relationship with an offence type, namely sexual abuse was associated with sexual offending and physical abuse with violent offending. LOC mediated the relationships between childhood sexual abuse and physical neglect with mental illness. Cognitive and/or adaptive impairment did not mediate the same relationship. «br /» Conclusions – The results supported prior research that offenders are more likely to present with mental illness, a history of childhood trauma, cognitive and/or adaptive impairments and an external LOC than the general population. These factors were also evident in re-offending risk. The results suggest that the social cognitive theory may be an appropriate framework when investigating mental health, childhood trauma and risk of offending, and provides a unique perspective on the relationship between childhood trauma and adult mental illness. Although the current study was not able to demonstrate the same for the cognitive reserve hypothesis, this theoretical perspective did highlight the significant role cognitive and/or adaptive impairments play in mental health and offence risk. The results highlight the need for specialised psychological interventions that result in an internal LOC and that are adaptable to offenders with cognitive and/or adaptive impairments, as this could be associated with the improved mental health and reductions in offence risk. The study highlighted the value of incorporating theory into offender research, assessment and treatmen