Self-Concept Among Formerly Incarcerated Sexual Minority Women

Adinah Stone, Amy B. Smoyer () and Karen D’Angelo
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Adinah Stone: School of Social Work, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 06515, USA
Amy B. Smoyer: School of Social Work, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 06515, USA
Karen D’Angelo: School of Social Work, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 06515, USA

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Sexual minority women (SMW) are a resilient yet vulnerable population who may experience poor psychosocial outcomes due to minority stress associated with their marginalized status and traumatic experiences resulting from interpersonal and structural violence. When SMW are incarcerated, the trauma of this experience can exacerbate existing mental health challenges. Self-concept is a key measure of mental health that is associated with increased self-efficacy and positive psychosocial outcomes. This analysis explores the ways in which incarceration impacts the self-concept of SMW. Secondary data analysis of three qualitative interviews with formerly incarcerated SMW was conducted. Specifically, Gilligan’s Listening Guide was used to create “I poems” that articulate the participants’ narratives and contrapuntal voices. These poems were then analyzed to build knowledge about participants’ self-concept. This analysis informs our understandings of self-concept among SMW, violence against women, the vulnerability of binary constructs, and the ways in which people negotiate past, present and future selves. The findings can inform interventions that seek to mitigate the psychosocial risks faced by SMW and formerly incarcerated people and improve outcomes for these populations.

Keywords: sexual minority women; LGBT; incarceration; self-concept; Listening Guide; qualitative; lesbian; transgender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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