Resources, Demands, and Self-regulation in Post-Institutional Transition

Job search and employment play a critical role in determining the success of individuals recently released from incarceration (IRRIs) to reenter their communities. However, as a stigmatized, resource-lacking population, IRRIs are at risk of experiencing unique and highly challenging stressors in their job search and employment, as well as to respond to the resulting strain in maladaptive ways (e.g., substance use), thus potentially increasing the odds of recidivism.

To address these risks and enhance the odds of reentry success, there is a need to better understand the challenges experienced by IRRIs as they seek gainful employment. Accordingly, the project team is conducting interviews with IRRIs at various stages of their reentry, as well as with those working with them (e.g., halfway house directors and counselors), to explore the unique aspects of IRRI job search and employment.

Informed by these interviews, the project team also aims to test how a combination of different job search tactics, individual background factors, and situational factors may combine to explain job search and employment outcomes. The findings will be used to inform efforts aimed at helping IRRIs successfully transition to employment (e.g., guiding the more effective investment of reentry resources), as well as to facilitate the development of more efficacious interventions that mitigate risky behaviors and reduce recidivism.

This project aims to shed light on the adaptive and maladaptive coping tactics adopted by IRRIs in response to the stressors and strain they experience in their job search, how such factors impact their job search success, and how individual and organizational search-related resources and demands can impact employment outcomes. The project involves two studies.

Building on conventional models of job search and the literature on community reentry, Study 1 is an exploratory, qualitative study in which we will interview up to 30 IRRIs (at various reentry stages) and 10 reentry professionals with the aim of developing a model of job search predictive of IRRI job search and employment outcomes. Study 2 aims to quantitatively test the hypothesized relationships embedded in the model emerging from Study 1 by collecting longitudinal field survey data from 200 IRRIs in three evenly spaced waves over their first four months of post-incarceration reentry.

Results from the research will contribute to the understanding of experiences and challenges of IRRIs as they search for employment as part of their community reentry, as well as to the development of more efficacious policies and interventions to mitigate risky behaviors among such individuals and reduce their odds of recidivism.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.