Interpersonal relationships and social support are important factors in women’s successful reentry from incarceration, but limited research has explored the role of women’s relationships to their communities during the reentry process. In the current study, women were recruited from three rural Appalachian jails, screened for high-risk behaviors (including drug use and unprotected sex), and interviewed at 12 months postrelease (N = 339). Interviews included the Relational Health Indices–Community scale, a validated measure of women’s relationships in community contexts, with subscales for empowerment/zest, engagement, and authenticity. Women who were reincarcerated during the 12-month postrelease period (43.4%) were younger, less employed, more likely to have used illicit drugs, and reported lower-quality community relationships at 12-month follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression models indicated that the effect of community relationships may be driven by the engagement and empowerment/zest constructs. Results suggest that community connectedness may relate to more successful reentry outcomes for rural women.

人际关系和社会支持是女性成功重返监狱的重要因素，但有限的研究探讨了女性在重返过程中与其社区的关系所起的作用。在目前的研究中，女性从阿巴拉契亚的三个农村监狱中招募，筛查高危行为（包括吸毒和无保护性行为），并在释放后 12 个月接受采访（N= 339)。访谈包括关系健康指数 - 社区量表，这是一种经过验证的社区环境中女性关系的衡量标准，具有赋权/热情、参与和真实性的子量表。在释放后 12 个月期间再次入狱的女性 (43.4%) 更年轻，就业更少，更有可能使用非法药物，并且在 12 个月的随访中报告了较低质量的社区关系。多元逻辑回归模型表明，社区关系的影响可能是由参与和授权/热情结构驱动的。结果表明，社区联系可能与农村妇女更成功的再入结果有关。