Longitudinal changes in recovery capital among recovery house residents with and without criminal legal system involvement: a marginal structural modeling analysis

Individuals with a history of criminal legal system (CLS) involvement may experience additional challenges to their recovery from substance addiction. We compared recovery capital trajectories of individuals in recovery residences with and without the involvement of CLS and assessed predictors of their Overall Recovery Capital Score (ORCS). We employed a quasi-experimental approach using weighted repeated measures modeling to compare the ORCS on the REC-CAP measure between 1,933 residents from 101 recovery houses (RH), with (59.9%) and without (40.1%) CLS involvement. Residents with CLS involvement showed equally positive gains in recovery capital while in recovery residences ( p < .0001), despite reporting greater unmet needs at baseline. Being man ( p = .01) and older age ( p = .04) predicted greater recovery capital gains regardless of CLS status. Our findings suggest that RH may be an effective setting for individuals with CLS involvement to build their recovery capital.