RESOURCE LOSS IN JUSTICE-INVOLVED WOMEN

Women engaging in substance use who have been justice-involved are systemically isolated from the legal economy and are therefore underresourced. Utilizing a conservation of resources framework of stress, this study examined the resources of 200 women exiting the criminal justice system who reported a history of substance abuse. Because a confirmatory factor analysis revealed several item cross-loadings and items that failed to load on a single factor, we used scale reduction techniques. The analyses revealed 4 highly correlated items: hope, sense of optimism, feeling life has purpose/meaning, and positive feelings about oneself. To verify the validity of our results, we ran regression analysis using the 4-item measure as a predictor of empowerment and depression. These results were comparable to analyses run with the original 45-item measure as a predictor of empowerment and depression, suggesting the validity of the brief 4-item measure as a measure of resource loss. This study highlights the importance of understanding the context of working with underresourced populations and suggests that the perception and process of stress may be unique across populations.. ?