Dr James Ogilvie, Dr Belinda Crissman, Dr Emily Hurren, Dr Carleen Thompson, Aydan Kuluk, Dr Troy Allard, Dr Lisa Broidy, Prof Susan Dennison, Prof Steve Kisely, Late Prof Anna Stewart
1Griffith Criminology Institute, Australia
Biography:
Dr James Ogilvie is a psychologist and lecturer in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University. His current research is focused on examining the intersection of mental illness and offending using population-level linked administrative datasets from criminal justice and health agencies. His broader research interests are on the causes of youth offending and the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions to reduce reoffending.
Abstract:
There is limited research that has examined developmental variation in the timing and intensity of contact with outpatient mental health services (MHS), including how offending outcomes are associated with different developmental trajectories of service contacts. This study applies Group Based Trajectory Modelling (GBTM) to identify patterns of outpatient MHS contacts over the early life-course, and then explores differences in offending outcomes across identified trajectory groups. We analysed longitudinal (age ≈10 to 23 years) outpatient MHS contact data for an Australian birth cohort (N = 5,359) using GBTM. We examined variation across trajectory groups by demographic characteristics (e.g., sex, race), psychiatric diagnoses, and offending outcomes (e.g., offending volume and type, age at first offence, incarceration). Four distinct trajectories of MHS contacts were identified, including escalating (5.8%), low (64.5%), adolescent limited (14.5%), and childhood peak declining (15.3%) trajectories. The escalating contacts trajectory group contained the fewest individuals (n = 308) but accounted for the highest proportion of MHS contacts (32.3%). Offending outcomes varied across trajectory groups, with more extensive offending outcomes observed for the escalating contacts group. Findings demonstrate that GBTM can assist examination of variations in MHS contacts across the life course. Efficacious intervention with a small but distinct group of vulnerable individuals may meaningfully impact available system resources and improve their criminal legal system outcomes.