Bringing Personality Into the Public Health Conversation: Evidence From a Correctional Population
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
10-1-2019
Abstract
Incarceration provides an opportunity for public health interventions, but communication and the delivery of services are complicated by considerable variability even within this generally high-needs population. Public health practitioners have relied heavily on social determinants of health data in their work, but this does not fully explain key patterns in responses and success. Psychometric work related to the “big five” or “five-factor” personality domains may provide important additional guidance to health communications and interventions. The Contraceptive Awareness and Reproductive Education clinical trial provided health risk factor and personality data on 257 incarcerated women aged 18–35. Of the study population, 85.9% reported at least one of the five forms of childhood trauma. Three of the five personality domains were associated with multiple health risk factors and four of the five were associated with fair or poor general health. Personality data provide important guidance in understanding variability in responses to public health interventions in the correctional setting.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Journal of Correctional Health Care
Volume
25
Issue
4
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Dumont, Dora M., Christine Brousseau, Sarah H. Shuford, Jacob J. van den Berg, L. A. Stein, and Jennifer G. Clarke. "Bringing Personality Into the Public Health Conversation: Evidence From a Correctional Population." Journal of Correctional Health Care 25, 4 (2019): 373-381. doi: 10.1177/1078345819881993.