Changing Risk Trajectories and Health Outcomes for Vulnerable Adolescents: Reclaiming the Future

Adolescents in the juvenile justice system are underserved and understudied even though they are disproportionately affected by myriad health risks and comorbidities. Less well understood is whether duration of incarceration is associated with poorer long-term health outcomes and whether risk behaviors persist into adulthood. Barnert et al analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and observed that incarceration duration in adolescence and early adulthood is independently predictive of poorer physical and mental health in adulthood.