It has been proposed that state anxiety, aroused when an inmate is initially placed in restrictive housing, interacts with the sequestering Special Housing Unit (SHU) environment to overtax the individual's already limited coping resources, and promotes later emotional problems and psychological deterioration. This study tested a SHU syndrome hypothesis with a moderated mediation path analysis of 69 male inmates. Results revealed that group status (general population vs. restrictive housing) interacted with state anxiety to increase trait anxiety and ineffective coping, which then gave rise to higher staff ratings of psychological disturbance in inmates with no prior history of mental illness.

有人提出，当囚犯最初被安置在限制性住房中时会引起状态焦虑，它与隔离的特殊住房单元 (SHU) 环境相互作用，使个人本已有限的应对资源负担过重，并促进后来的情绪问题和心理恶化。本研究通过对 69 名男性囚犯的适度调解路径分析测试了 SHU 综合征假设。结果显示，群体状态（普通人群与限制性住房）与状态焦虑相互作用，增加了特质焦虑和无效应对，从而导致工作人员对没有精神疾病史的囚犯的心理障碍评分更高。