Adverse childhood experiences, coping strategies and depression among incarcerated males

Abstract

The study was carried out to investigate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, depression and coping in a sample of incarcerated males (N=10) using the Adverse childhood experiences international questionnaire, Patient health questionnaire and the Brief -COPE questionnaire. The 10 respondents were randomly selected from the Isimba Prison Farm, Masindi district and self-administered questionnaires were used in the data collection process. The data was analyzed using the statistical software package for social sciences (SPSS) and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the significance of the relationships among variables. The first and third alternative hypotheses were retained since significant relationships were found among the variables; r = -0.342 and p = 0.333 for the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and depression and r = 0.016 and p = 0.965 for the relationship between coping and depression. The second alternative hypothesis was rejected since a significant relationship was not found between coping and depression; r = 0.656 and p = 0.040.