Graduation Term

Spring 2026

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Criminal Justice Sciences

Committee Chair

Brent Teasdale

Committee Member

Jessie Krienert

Committee Member

Jeffrey Walsh

Abstract

The conjunction of substance use disorders, mental illnesses, and violence has been shaped through traditional risk-centered models, yet these approaches fail to explain why most individuals do not engage in violent behavior despite being high risk. This study aims to investigate how resilience may buffer the criminogenic effects of comorbidity and help understand the majority of those at risk who remain nonviolent. The data for this study is drawn from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study, which consisted of 2.255 person-waves, as the data examined comorbidity across 5 waves, consisting of 451 participants in each wave.Each participant in each wave was a civilly admitted psychiatric inpatient aged 18-40 years with confirmed DSM-III-R diagnoses of both substance use disorder and mental illness. Violence is measured by any reported act of violence within the 10-week follow-up period. Resilience is operationalized by examining protective factors such as social support, emotional regulation, IQ, perceived stress management, and accessibility to resources. The findings are expected to provide evidence that resilience is a factor in aiding these individuals with comorbid conditions to stay nonviolent.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

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