In the United States, black men are incarcerated at grossly disproportionate rates and experience significant resulting psychosocial impairments. Although there is available research on incarceration's negative impacts on black men, there are notable gaps regarding how certain social experiences and identities impact their transition back to civilian life. This study examined how perceived racial discrimination and hypermasculinity (as operationalized by aggression and restrictive emotionality) impact the post-incarceration adjustment of 201 18-25 year old formerly incarcerated black men from New York City. Adjustment was operationalized using multiple scales and assessment questions. Final adjustment variables included: prosocial, social, social systems, provider, social capital support, family, and hopelessness.

This study found that experiencing racial discrimination and having stronger restrictive emotionality are negatively correlated with hopelessness. Restrictive emotionality also had a significant, negative relationship with prosocial adjustment, social systems, and social capital support adjustment. Perceived racial discrimination moderated and contributed unique variance within the relationship between hopelessness and age. Family adjustment, provider adjustment, and social adjustment did not have any significant correlates. These results suggest that perceived racial discrimination and restrictive emotionality negatively impact black men's transition to civilian life following incarceration, which has unique implications for future research and interventions.