Motherhood Status and Behavioral Health Among Justice-Involved Women: A Nationwide Study

Research on justice-involved women has mainly focused on mothers with minor children or treated this population as a homogeneous group. Little is known about the disparities between women with and without children and the role of motherhood status and timing on their behavioral health. Using public Add Health data, this study found that women with and without children had different behavioral health outcomes. Those who had children after incarceration had lower odds of being diagnosed with depression and trended toward having fewer depressive symptoms. Those who had children before incarceration trended toward having lower odds of being diagnosed with PTSD.