Social Support, Victimization, and Stress in a Women’s Prison: The Role of in-Prison Friendship for Reducing Perceptions of Stress

Abstract

Drawing on social integration and support literature, this study evaluates whether having in-prison friendships reduces incarcerated women’s perceptions of stress and buffers the additional stress associated with violent prison victimization. Using network and survey data from a sample of 104 incarcerated women in a Pennsylvanian prison unit, results indicate that experiencing violent victimization in prison substantially increases incarcerated women’s perceptions of stress while having greater in-prison friendship ties is associated with lower perceptions of prison stress. In addition, larger in-prison friendship networks substantially reduce the stress associated with women’s in-prison victimization, making friendships a vital resource for victimized women.