A new study led by a Michigan State University researcher shows that poverty experienced by women after leaving prison not only limits their choices, but also temporarily reduces their ability to think clearly and solve problems. 

Why this matters: 

• Poverty experienced by women when they leave prison temporarily reduces their IQ and ability to think clearly to solve problems.  

• This study was the first to demonstrate in a clinical sample that intelligence, impulsivity, and other characteristics change with circumstances and to show effects on real-word clinical outcomes like mental health and substance use. 

The research, published in Scientific Reports, found that scarcity of resources such as housing, food, transportation, and childcare can lower IQ, weaken self-control, and increase impulsive behavior. These cognitive effects, in turn, raise the risks of substance use, poor mental health, and missed treatment during the critical weeks after release. 

“When women do poorly after prison release, society and even service providers often solely blame the woman,” said Jennifer Johnson, founding chair of the Charles Stewart Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health at the MSU College of Human Medicine and lead author of the study. “But our findings show that extreme poverty itself impairs thinking and decision-making. These problems are not fixed traits. They can be changed by policy and community support.” 

A vulnerable time 

The study followed 92 women with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders during and after incarceration. Participants completed tests of fluid intelligence, attention, persistence, and impulsivity at multiple points before and after release. 

greater poverty and unmet needs after release had sharper drops in mental functioning, more cravings for drugs or alcohol, and poorer mental health. 

“Trying to secure housing, find work, reunite with children, and meet parole or treatment requirements all while living in poverty consumes mental energy,” Johnson said. “It leaves women with fewer cognitive resources to resist cravings or make careful decisions.” 

Implications for policy and services 

The findings challenge the idea that relapse or setbacks after prison release are simply due to personal failings. Instead, they point to scarcity as a direct factor that undermines recovery and reintegration. 

According to Johnson, health and social programs that are complex, rigid, or punitive may unintentionally make matters worse by overwhelming people already struggling with reduced cognitive capacity. She said services should be designed to be easier to find, simpler to access, simpler to navigate, and more forgiving of small mistakes. 

“Society has more control than we realize,” Johnson said. “If we reduce poverty and make systems easier to navigate, we can improve both mental health and public safety.” 

Connecting research to practice 

Johnson also serves as MSU's principal investigator for the National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS). NCHATS is an innovative, practice-focused suicide prevention research center funded by a $15 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health that recognizes that contact with police, courts, or jails can be a marker for suicide risk and demonstrates ways to connect people to suicide prevention services at scale. Its goal is to use build information bridges between health care organizations and criminal legal systems so that people at risk for suicide can be identified and connected to effective care; the center also evaluates the clinical and cost-effectiveness of suicide prevention practices in these settings. NCHATS 

The center brings together a large, multi-institution team — dozens of investigators across many partner institutions (including Michigan State University, Brown University and Henry Ford Health) — and works directly with jails, police, courts and health systems to integrate and expand public-health approaches to suicide prevention among people who have contact with the criminal legal system. 

“An NCHATS study found that 1 in 5 U.S. adults who dies by suicide has spent at least one night in jail in the past year,” Johnson said. “Both distress and impulsivity are risk factors for suicide, and this new study shows that conditions at prison release increase both distress and impulsivity. By uncovering how poverty shapes thinking and behavior, we can help design better policies and programs that give people a real chance at success after incarceration.” 

Making broader change 

Findings suggest that intelligence, impulsivity, and other traits once thought to be fixed can be shaped by context and are linked to important real-world health outcomes. That means they are more open to remedies such as stable housing, accessible health care, transportation support, and policies that ease rather than complicate re-entry. 

“Poverty doesn’t just take away options, it narrows people’s ability to make decisions, including when their health is at risk,” Johnson said. “If we want people leaving prison to succeed, we have to reduce scarcity and give them the cognitive space to make good decisions.” 

October 24, 2025