Childhood abuse and psychiatric impairment in a sample of welfare to work women

Since 1996, individuals who participate in welfare programs are mandated to find employment. Welfare recipients may have difficulty transitioning to the work force due to impairments in psychosocial functioning. Examples include mental health and substance use disorders, medical problems, academic and learning difficulties, and lack of resources such as childcare and transportation. In addition, many welfare recipients have histories of abuse and violence, which further complicate their job finding efforts given the documented relationship between past maltreatment and psychiatric impairment. An area unexplored is the relationship between a history of childhood abuse and psychiatric impairment in Welfare to Work (WtW) recipients. We evaluated the relationships among demographics, personality pathology, substance abuse, cognitive functioning, and histories of childhood abuse in a group of 158 WtW recipients in order to assess predictors of psychiatric impairment. Results suggest that participants with higher levels of psychiatric impairment also had higher levels of interpersonal problems related to personality pathology, higher drug and alcohol use impairment, and endorsed more severe histories of childhood abuse. Personality pathology, alcohol use severity, and self-reported childhood abuse emerged as the best predictor of psychiatric impairment in this WtW sample. These results have implications for identifying individuals at risk for unsuccessful transition into the work force and for the development of effective rehabilitation strategies that considers the unique needs of women in WtW programs.