Seasonal Mental Health Symptoms Amongst Former Criminal Legal System-Involved Adolescents

The contemporary literature has illustrated that individuals involved in the criminal legal system (CLS) before 18 have heightened symptoms of depression and anxiety during adulthood when compared to individuals not involved in the CLS before 18. The magnitude of the effects, however, appears to differ across studies suggesting that the association could be moderated by another mechanism. After reviewing the literature, we asked "Does the season in which a mental health assessment is administered moderate the association between CLS involvement before 18 and adult mental health symptoms?."

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97; N = 8961 individuals; N = 53,766 observations) and non-interaction and interaction random intercept models were estimated to answer the identified research question. Marginal predictions were produced, and an ANOVA analysis was conducted to ease interpretations.

Approximately, 15%, 2%, and 1% of the analytical sample were arrested, incarcerated in a juvenile facility, or incarcerated in an adult facility before 18 (respectively), with 11%, 2%, and 43% of the sample completing the MHI-5 in the spring, summer, and fall, respectively. The model results suggest that the interview season moderates the association between CLS involvement before 18 and symptoms of depression and anxiety (e.g., interviews during spring increase the association between arrest before 18 and symptoms of depression and anxiety [b = 0.007; p < 0.001]).

Overall, the findings highlight that CLS involvement before 18 increases mental health symptoms, but the magnitude of the effects varies by season.