Despite the apparent connection between environmental stress and the numerous negative health outcomes listed above, caution must be used in inferring that such disorders are stress induced. First, inmates are disproportionately members of the lower class, minority, less educated, and unemployed (Gibbs, 1991). These socioeconomic factors are closely associated with worsened physical and mental health, due to inadequate health care, stressful living arrangements, the strain of unemployment, few economic resources, and the high number of negative life events. Secondly, class differences aside, the mental health problems present in many inmates may have been strongly associated with being incarcerated. For example, having a severe psychosis such as schizophrenia makes it more likely that someone engaging in criminal behavior will be caught, prosecuted, and incarcerated (Teplin, 1990).
Although confounding factors blur the stress±distress relationship, it is clear that jails and prisons contain severe stressors that threaten the mental and physical health of inmates. Elevated symptom levels are not wholly accounted for by the presence of vulnerable groups in jail (Gibbs, 1991). In addition to the stressful nature of jails and prisons themselves, the experience of incarceration produces additional stressors for the inmates, such as dealing with outside family problems, going to court, and losing one's job.
In short, the abundance of environmental stressors and adverse health outcomes suggests a strong causal relationship. Previous research has clearly identified many stressors evident in penal institutions and numerous mental health outcomes have been well documented; yet, the stress±distress relationship is complex. Although stressors are presumed to have a direct, negative effect on inmates' mental health, other factors may influence this relationship. Despite the abundance of potentially stressful aspects of life in a penal institution, inmates vary in the manner in which they perceive and experience stress. Variations may be influenced by the duration of incarceration, the gender of the inmate, the type of penal institution, and, most importantly, the degree of congruence between the inmate's needs and the jail's supply of certain environmental features (Gibbs, 1991). The environmental congruence model (Gibbs, 1991; Michelson, 1976) suggests that inmates' mental health is affected primarily by whether a state of congruence between the environment and the person is achieved. Inmates vary in their degrees of environmental needs, or demands, just as each environment features unique environmental resources, or supply. The amount of concordance between such demand and supply is what elicits an adaptive, or maladaptive response (Gibbs 1991).
Guided by the environmental congruence model (Gibbs, 1991), the present study will examine the extent to which perceptions of environmental congruence are associated with inmates' mental health. The environment's influence on distress will be examined for both male and female inmates. It is hoped that by gaining a more complete understanding of the stress±distress relationship among the jail 504