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Teacher's Experiences with and Expectations of Children with Incarcerated Parents
Abstract
Children with incarcerated parents, and mothers in particular, are at increased risk for academic failure and school dropout. In two studies, we examined teachers' experiences with children with incarcerated parents and their expectations for competence of children with incarcerated mothers. In Study 1, a descriptive, qualitative study, teachers (N=30) discussed their experiences with children with incarcerated parents. The results of Study 1 suggest that children with incarcerated parents experience stigmatization in the school setting and children with incarcerated mothers are considered especially at risk. Based on the results of Study 1, we designed an experiment for Study 2 to examine teachers' (N=73) expectations for competency of fictitious children new to class because of maternal incarceration. Teachers randomly assigned to a scenario describing a female student whose mother is away at prison rated the child as less competent than teachers randomly assigned to scenarios in which the child's mother was described as being away for other reasons.
... When you are still in the early stages of development, major life events can impede the developmental process and hinder a child from growing to their full potential. Thus, younger children may be more vulnerable to the effects of parental incarceration as they have specific needs to be met in their early stages of development (Dallaire et al., 2010). ...
... Children's responses to the experience of losing a parent to the criminal justice system include fear, anxiety, sadness, and grief. Without intervention, these feelings can be manifested into reactive behavior and actions such as fighting with peers, acting out, and bullying (Dallaire et al., 2010). Research has indicated a correlation between parental incarceration and an increase in emotional, academic, and behavioral problems among America's youth (Lopez & Bhat, 2007). ...
... The stigma, strain, and separation resulting from parental incarceration can manifest in internal and external behaviors of stress and acting out inappropriately . Internalized problems include feelings of worthlessness or inferiority or feeling sick and needing to go to the nurse's office despite a lack of noticeable symptoms (Dallaire et al., 2010). When children feel the need to take control of something in their life, they often resort to physical actions which society views as aggression and punishes the child instead of providing care for them. ...
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/169426/1/rwolens.pdf
... Arguably, some correctional environments facilitate minimal opportunities for contact between children and their parents. These facilities often allow visits through Plexiglas and provide minimal to no opportunity for children and their parents to hug and hold hands (Dallaire, Ciccone, & Wilson, 2010;Loper et al., 2009). ...
... Shlafer and Poehlmann (2010) found that some children demonstrated ambivalence about visiting their parents in jail, and when presented the opportunity to discuss how their visit went, children reported negative experiences. Another jail study found that frequent visits with parents in jails were associated with higher child reports of attention problems (Dallaire, Ciccone, & Wilson, 2010). ...
... Nonetheless, children of jailed parents also reported fewer internalizing symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and physical or somatic issues, when they had more mail correspondence from their jailed parents (Dallaire, Ciccone, & Wilson, 2010). Caregivers of young children are often perceptive of children's behaviors and reactions when they are visiting their incarcerated parent (Arditti et al., 2003). ...
This study examines the effects of three forms of contact between incarcerated fathers and their children and family-strengthening programs, including relationship skills training and parenting classes in two Midwestern state prisons on fathers and their children’s relationship.
The study sample derives from the Multisite Family Study on Incarceration, Partnering, and Parenting. The MFS-IP is a longitudinal study that evaluated the implementation and impact of family programming on relationships among nearly 2,000 incarcerated and reentering fathers. Ordered logit models were used to investigate the effects of three forms of contact between incarcerated fathers and their children and family-strengthening programs during prison on fathers’ relationship with their children among fathers imprisoned in correctional facilities in two Midwestern states.
Bivariate analyses demonstrated that in-person visits, phone calls, and family-strengthening treatment had positive and statistically significant associations with relationship quality between fathers and their focal child. After controlling for individual, familial, incarceration trajectories, and site differences, fathers who received multiple forms of contact from their focal child and engaged in family-strengthening treatment were more likely to have higher relationship quality with their focal child.
This study provides insights to correctional personnel and policymaker related to family-strengthening approaches for incarcerated fathers and families.
... Children, spouses and even close friends of incarcerated men and women experience incarceration periods as crises (Arditti, 2012;McCubbin & McCubbin, 2013;Morris, 1965;Tadros et al., 2019;Wildeman & Western, 2010). This often results in children and teenagers exhibiting conduct disorders and anti-social behavior (Murray et al., 2012;Song et al., 2018;Wiesner & Shukla, 2018), enduring emotional hardships (Dallaire et al., 2010), using violence and drug abuse as coping methods (Eddy & Reid, 2003), and experiencing stigmatization (Phillips & Gates, 2011). ...
... Perceived negative attitudes based on kinship is not a new idea (Christian et al., 2015), making participants' experience of negative social reactions an almost natural process of social shaming by proxy. Stigma related to the imprisoned son/brother creates a "ripple effect" of various circles surrounding the family, which operate as social control agents, generating feelings of social isolation and belittlement (Condry, 2013;Dallaire et al., 2010). The present study strives to convey participants' unique interpretation and reaction to stigma. ...
... The themes that arose from the findings created a two-fold process: withdrawal away from society and growing closer as a family. For example, corresponding with previous studies (Condry, 2013;Dallaire et al., 2010), stigma related to prisoners operates as social control agents, generating feelings of social isolation and belittlement. Upon experiencing similar dynamics, participants either chose to (fully or partially) remove themselves from social circles, thus becoming closer as a family unit. ...
The goal of the present study was to gain insight into the experience of parents and siblings of incarcerated men who went through different stages of legal proceedings, arrest, and incarceration. The main questions of the research revolved around family relationships, attitudes toward various situations and perceived obstacles and experiences throughout the different stages of what they defined as “crisis”. A thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 17 parents and 10 siblings of incarcerated men in Israel shows that nuclear family members may experience various struggles, including family hardships, negative social experiences, and negative institutional experiences. Negative feelings, changes in attitudes toward society and its facilities, and loss of trust, resulted in the development of counter rejection, a process in which families seemed to be growing closer together and further away from social circles, and wavering almost all external help.
... The trauma of a parent-child separation via parental incarceration and the ongoing and repeated stressors that serve to impede development can yield behavioral problems for children (Braman 2006;Comfort 2007;Murray and Murray 2010;Myers et al. 1999) that can manifest in the school context. Second, parental incarceration can lead to stigmatization as children can experience teasing and bullying from peers (Boswell and Wedge 2002) and stigmatization from teachers (Dallaire, Ciccone, and Wilson 2010). These experiences can reduce children's educational support systems and challenge their social integration (Braman 2006;Nesmith and Ruhland 2008). ...
... Parental incarceration may also debilitate youth's relationships with peers and teachers. Experimental research has found that teachers are more likely to rate children with incarcerated parents as less academically competent than children whose parents are absent because they are in rehabilitation programs, school, or "away" for other reasons (Dallaire et al. 2010). Finally, contact with the criminal justice system can limit parents' relative comfort participating in children's schooling (Haskins and Jacobsen 2017), which could affect children's educational outcomes. ...
... These fears are not unfounded. Prior literature from the criminal law context has shown that children with an incarcerated parent can suffer from teacher stigma as educators perceive these children to be more incompetent and to exhibit more behavioral problems than students of nonincarcerated parents (Dallaire et al. 2010). In addition, children of the incarcerated may also suffer stigma from their peers and be the targets of teasing or bullying when the nature of their parent's absence is discovered (Boswell and Wedge 2002). ...
Every year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement imprisons hundreds of thousands of noncitizens as they await adjudication on their deportation proceedings. Importantly, many detained individuals have lived in the interior of the country for many years and are parents of young, dependent, school-age children living in the United States. This analysis brings together and builds upon research on parental incarceration and international migration. We analyze 104 multigenerational interviews conducted in California with detained parents, their current or former nondetained spouses/partners, and the school-age children they share. Our findings suggest that children’s academic trajectories are seriously disrupted by the trauma, stigma, and strain of parental imprisonment. Moreover, these vulnerabilities are enhanced in unique ways by children’s positionality as members of mixed-immigration-status families facing the possibility of deportation. Our findings suggest that parental immigration detention can have intergenerational consequences for children’s mobility that disrupt traditional pathways of immigrant integration in mixed-immigration-status families.
... This risk is particularly acute for black children, with 1 in 4 black children born in 1990 experiencing parental incarceration compared with 1 in 25 white children (Wildeman 2009). Parental incarceration is associated with an increased risk for contact with child protective services (Johnson and Waldfogel 2002), experiencing housing insecurity (Wildeman 2014), future criminal justice involvement (Lee, Fang, and Luo 2016;Murray and Farrington 2005;Murray, Loeber, and Pardini 2012;Wildeman and Andersen 2017), stigma (Braman 2004;Comfort 2007), and experiencing health issues (Dallaire, Ciccone, and Wilson 2010;Lee, Fang, and Luo 2013;Turney 2014;Wildeman, Goldman, and Turney 2018;. A comprehensive body of literature has found that parental incarceration is also associated with children's educational outcomes, in terms of both academic processes, such as reductions in academic performance (Haskins 2014(Haskins , 2016Turney and Haskins 2014) and highest grade attainment (Braman 2004;Foster and Hagan 2009;Hagan and Foster 2012;Miller and Barns 2015), as well as nonacademic school-related processes such as increased problem behaviors (Geller et al. 2012;Haskins 2015;Turney and Wildeman 2015). ...
... Parental incarceration is associated with difficulty with socialization and peer isolation through trauma and increased responsibilities at home (Foster and Hagan 2007). Peer social interactions are important for motivation (Ryan 2003) and stigma negatively affects both peer interactions and teachers' expectations of students (Dallaire et al. 2010). Parent incarceration also causes economic strain during the period of incarceration and has long-term economic impacts. ...
... I also examine nonacademic school-related processes, which have been shown to have deleterious consequences for educational outcomes. Nonacademic school-related processes may be particularly important in light of the role stigma may play in studentteacher interactions (Dallaire et al. 2010), as well as peer interactions. Fighting in school is associated with antisocial behavior, risk for injury or mortality, and disruptions in academic trajectories and work (Rudatsikira, Muula, and Siziya 2008). ...
The author uses strategic comparison regression and the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health ( n = 11,767) to explore the effect of parental incarceration on academic and nonacademic outcomes in high school. This method compares youth whose parents were incarcerated before the outcomes are measured with those whose parents will be incarcerated after. The author examines most recent grades and a range of nonacademic outcomes, such as truancy, involvement in school activities, and suspension. Results indicate that the associations between parental incarceration and grades are largely accounted for by selection, but associations between parental incarceration and nonacademic processes persist. Maternal incarceration holds particular importance for behavioral outcomes (fighting and truancy), and paternal incarceration holds particular importance for behavioral, connectedness, and disciplinary outcomes. Researchers examining the intergenerational consequences of incarceration should examine school contexts beyond the classroom and explore the pathways through which this disadvantage occurs.
... Research about the school experiences of CIP is limited in general; research about the perceptions of educators working with CIP is particularly sparse. Across three recent studies of educators' perceptions and experiences with CIP, teachers and school officials reported academic, behavioral, and emotional challenges for CIP (Dallaire, Ciccone, & Wilson, 2010;McCrickard & Flynn, 2016;Morgan, Leeson, & Carter Dillon, 2013). These studies raised concerns about stigmatizing experiences with teachers and peers, and Dallaire et al. (2010) found evidence teachers may stigmatize or lower expectations of behavioral, academic, or social competence when aware of parental incarceration. ...
... Across three recent studies of educators' perceptions and experiences with CIP, teachers and school officials reported academic, behavioral, and emotional challenges for CIP (Dallaire, Ciccone, & Wilson, 2010;McCrickard & Flynn, 2016;Morgan, Leeson, & Carter Dillon, 2013). These studies raised concerns about stigmatizing experiences with teachers and peers, and Dallaire et al. (2010) found evidence teachers may stigmatize or lower expectations of behavioral, academic, or social competence when aware of parental incarceration. Additionally, educators in all of these studies expressed difficulty identifying CIP within the schools and a lack of understanding about how to appropriately respond to the needs of CIP. ...
... This strategy offers a child-centered approach that encourages empathy. Speaking up on behalf of CIP who are experiencing socialemotional, academic, or behavior difficulties may help address concerns about teacher or educator stigma (Dallaire et al., 2010). ...
More than 5 million children in the United States will experience parental incarceration. These children may have academic, behavioral, or social difficulties in school. School counselors are positioned to support the mental health needs of children of incarcerated parents, but little was known about how school counselors understand their needs. This study used an instrumental case study design to consider how school counselors recognize and understand the needs of children of incarcerated parents in a single school district in a southeastern state. Participants described the observable impacts of parental incarceration at school. They conceptualized loss experiences for children of incarcerated parents, including losses of family connections, family stability, and social acceptance. Findings support ambiguous loss theory as a conceptual framework for the experiences of children of incarcerated parents. Recommendations for counselors, educational leaders, and future research are discussed.
... Indeed, both classical and contemporary sociological research finds that the criminal legal system is stigmatizing as it can separate an individual from others in society and instill negative characteristics to a person that harms that person's identity and status (Goffman, 1963;Link & Phelan, 2001;Schnittker & Bacak, 2013). Prior research highlights how stigma stemming from criminal legal contact operates across families (e.g., Braman, 2004), peers (e.g., Jacobsen et al., 2021), the educational system (e.g., Dallaire et al., 2010), and the labor market (e.g., Pager, 2003). Furthermore, stigma is often posited as a pathway through which police contact compromises youth wellbeing (e.g., Testa et al., 2022). ...
... Stigma is a commonly hypothesized mechanism linking criminal legal contact to damaging outcomes. Though the focus of much research has been on arrests (Stewart & Uggen, 2020;Uggen et al., 2014) and incarceration (Braman, 2004;Dallaire et al., 2010;Feingold, 2021;Massoglia et al., 2011;Pager, 2003;Schnittker & John, 2007), police contact that does not lead to arrest or incarceration can also be stigmatizing, especially for youth (DeVylder et al., 2020;Jackson et al., 2019). First, police contact is a negative event that youth internalize (Brunson & Weitzer, 2009). ...
The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between mother–youth closeness and stigma stemming from police contact. Research increasingly indicates that stigma stemming from police–youth encounters links police contact to compromised outcomes among youth, though less is known about the correlates of stigma stemming from this criminal legal contact. Close mother–youth relationships, commonly understood to be protective for youth outcomes, may be one factor that buffers against stop‐related stigma, especially the anticipation of stigma. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a sample of youth born in urban areas around the turn of the 21st century, to examine the relationship between mother–youth closeness and stop‐related stigma. We find that mother–youth closeness is negatively associated with stop‐related anticipated stigma but not stop‐related experienced stigma. We also find that the relationship between mother–youth closeness and stop‐related anticipated stigma is concentrated among youth experiencing a non‐intrusive stop. Close mother–youth relationships may protect against stigma stemming from criminal legal contact.
... Also paralleling the idea that experiences are consequential across generations, Goffman (1963) used the phrase "courtesy stigma" to refer to stigma that is due to being associated with an individual, such as a parent, who has a discredited label and used the term "spoiled identity" to refer to an identity originating from a negative label that results in transitioning through the life course with an attribute that is extremely stigmatizing. Indeed, plausibly due to linked lives (Elder, 1985(Elder, , 1994(Elder, , 1997, courtesy stigma (Goffman, 1963), and the process of labeling (Lemert, 1951(Lemert, , 1967, children of incarcerated parents experience social, psychological, and financial costs throughout the life course (Dallaire et al., 2010;Phillips & Gates, 2011;Wildeman et al., 2017). Children of incarcerated parents may therefore internalize negative labels and develop spoiled identities through the courtesy stigma that accompanies parental contact with the justice system (Augustyn et al., 2019;Finkeldey et al., 2020;Saunders, 2018). ...
... Given that children who experience the incarceration of a parent are stigmatized and assumed to be similar to an incarcerated parent (Dallaire et al., 2010;Johnston & Sullivan, 2016;Luther, 2016), and are aware of such presumptions, it is understandable that some may develop identities consistent with criminal behavior. However, some children use their incarcerated parent as a model of what not to be and emotionally and physically distance themselves from their currently or formerly incarcerated parent (e.g., Johnston & Sullivan, 2016;Giordano, 2010;Luther, 2016). ...
Although research suggests that parental incarceration is associated with intergenerational continuity in crime, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Using multi-population structural equation modeling and data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (n = 1207), the current study explored specific experiences associated with labeling as well as internalizing labels, including experiencing corporal punishment during childhood, criminal arrests during adolescence, and identifying as a troublemaker/partier in young adulthood (measured with reflected appraisals), as potential mechanisms linking parental incarceration and young adults’ offending. We assessed whether this association differed by young adults’ level of emotional independence, that is, freedom from the need for parental approval. We found that parental incarceration indirectly influenced criminal activity particularly through identifying as a troublemaker/partier during young adulthood but only for those who sought parental approval. Overall, we concluded that high emotional independence, or not seeking parental approval, may be a protective factor that facilitates intergenerational discontinuities in crime.
... Parental incarceration goes beyond just a discrete event, it is a process in the wake of other family life circumstances and incorporates the lived experiences prior to and after their parent's incarceration (e.g., family climate, parenting style, parent's problem behaviors; Giordano et al., 2019). The ongoing effects of parental incarceration can significantly impact the developmental stages of emerging adulthood, causing young adults to remain silent in their experiences, enduring cycles of trauma, encountering secondary stigma, experiencing social exclusion, navigating through behavioral challenges, and altering the way in which they achieve conventional goals and transition to adult statuses (Dallaire et al., 2010;Kjellstrand et al., 2018;Murray et al., 2012;Turney, 2018). Therefore, interpretations and emotional responses of parental incarceration goes beyond the specific event of imprisonment. ...
... To avoid stigmatization, children and their caregivers often conceal the incarceration of the parent to avoid the negative view societal members might impose upon them. Regardless, the stigmatization of incarceration can lead to an increase in behavioral issues (Hanlon, Blatchley, & Bennett-Sears 2005, as cited in Dallaire, Ciccone, & Wilson, 2010). In addition to their teachers' perceptions and THE PORTRAYALS OF CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS expectations for this group of children, this risk factor, combined with those previously mentioned, present contributing factors for academic failure. ...
By using bibliotherapy, teachers, social workers, and juvenile justice personnel can help children with incarcerated parents develop a sense of resilience by finding themselves on the page of a book.
... Internalizing behaviors are processes/practices within the self, while externalizing behaviors are actions in the external world. Internalizing behaviors may include embarrassment, withdrawn behaviors, psychosomaticizing, emotional ambivalence, or other childhood trauma symptoms associated with the parent-child relationship and parental incarceration (i.e., limited phone and/or face-to-face interactions, or no interactions at all, which can contribute to a lack of understanding) (Aaron & Dallaire, 2010;Arditti & Savla, 2015;Dallaire et al., 2010;Martin, 2017;Turney, 2019). Some common post-traumatic reactions to parental incarceration may be reexperiencing, purposeful avoidance, dissociation (emotional shock), hyperarousal, and anxiety (Arditti & Savla, 2015). ...
PurposeParental incarceration is a traumatic experience that affects both the parent and their family. It is also a traumatic childhood and adolescent event that plagues students who may already be vulnerable and oppressed. The current study examines parental incarceration and associated factors.Methods
African American students (N = 139) from a Texas Independent School District were assessed to determine associations between parental incarceration and socioeconomic status (free/reduced lunch), educational outcomes (being retained in a grade and/or special education placement) school exclusion (suspension and/or expulsion), and juvenile justice involvement (receipt of a criminal ticket in school, ticket in the community, and/or student arrest, and possible interactional effects. Chi-square and binomial logistic regression were used to examine these associations and the likelihood of experiencing these effects from parental incarceration.Results and Conclusion
Findings revealed that parental incarceration was associated with low socioeconomics, being retained, school exclusion, and juvenile justice involvement in this population. Implications for continued research and practice are discussed.
... Children may experience multiple ACEs, prior to the incarceration of the parent or caregiver, including exposures to such ACEs as structural racism, mental illness, substance abuse, economic hardship, and early childhood trauma (Dallaire, 2007;Foster & Hagan, 2015;Sykes & Pettit, 2014;Wakefield & Wildeman, 2014). Children of incarcerated parents and caregivers often have lower school attendance, less frequent completion of homework, and an overall decrease in school engagement (Dallaire et al., 2010). ...
Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) foster healthy child development. Yet little is known about the degree to which children of incarcerated parents are exposed to positive childhood experiences (PCEs), such as participation in after-school activities, volunteering in the community, and residing in a safe and supportive neighborhood. We analyzed 2017-2018 data from the National Survey of Children’s Health to examine the relationship between caregiver incarceration and two academic outcomes, repeating a grade and school absenteeism, controlling for child and caregiver characteristics, and to examine the relationship between caregiver incarceration and PCEs, controlling for child and caregiver characteristics. Children exposed to household incarceration had higher odds of repeating a grade than children not exposed to household incarceration (aOR 1.62; 95% CI 1.23-2.13). Children with exposure to household incarceration had lower odds of residing in a supportive neighborhood than children without exposure to household incarceration (aOR 0.77; 95% CI 0.64-0.93). Findings from this study can be used by policymakers and program developers in the development and implementation of programs for children with incarcerated parents.
... The stigma of a criminal record has been shown to affect subsequent employment opportunities (Pager 2003), but children whose parents spend time in prison may also acquire a stigma by association (Goffman 1963) as people attribute negative characteristics to them solely based on their relation to the incarcerated parent. Particularly, teachers have been shown to lower their expectations of children of incarcerated parents (Dallaire et al. 2010;Wildeman, Scardamalia, Walsh, O'Brien, and Brew, 2017) which may impact both grading, learning, performance, and behavior in school and thus very directly affect educational outcomes. ...
Objectives
This study estimates the causal effect of paternal incarceration on children’s educational outcomes measured at the end of compulsory schooling (9th grade) in Denmark.
Methods
I use Danish administrative data and rely on a sentencing reform in 2000, which expanded the use of non-custodial alternatives to incarceration for traffic offenders, for plausibly exogenous variation in the risk of experiencing paternal incarceration.
Results
The results show that paternal incarceration does not affect academic achievement (grade point average), but that it does reduce the number of grades obtained, and–most importantly–roughly doubles the risk of not even completing compulsory school and getting a 9th grade certificate. These findings are driven mainly by boys for whom paternal incarceration appear to be particularly consequential.
Conclusions
The findings presented in this study highlight the presence of unintended and collateral consequences of penal policies–even in the context of a relatively mild penal regime. Effects are, however, estimated for a subgroup of Danish children experiencing paternal incarceration, and how results translate to other subgroups and beyond the Danish context is open for speculation.
... Research has suggested that school authorities make decisions about students based on perceptions of their families (Ferguson, 2001). Teachers who are aware of a student with an incarcerated parent may have expectations of behavioral problems from the student (Dallaire et al., 2010). Students who have been deemed "at-risk" may find their behavior under scrutiny, and such heightened visibility can increase their likelihood of being sanctioned (Ferguson, 2001). ...
Despite its widespread use, school suspension is related to negative outcomes in adolescence, including delinquency and low academic attainment. However, it remains less clear how other sources of adversity affect the relationship between suspension and negative outcomes. Drawing on longitudinal data on a sample of at-risk youth, this study examines the roles of two sources of disadvantage—being a racial minority and experiencing high levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—in the relationships between school suspension in childhood and arrest and high school dropout in adolescence. Results reveal that suspension increased odds of dropout and arrest regardless of race, even after accounting for high ACEs and other covariates. Among Black youth only, the impact of suspension on dropout was amplified for those with high ACE exposure. Findings shed light on the complex connections between sources of adversity and their relation to negative outcomes in adolescence.
... Including children's voices has been identified by a variety of scholars as vital and the "key next step in this line of research" (Poehmann et al. 2010, p. 595;Johnston 2006). Indeed, researchers in the area of parental incarceration often raise the need for studies which ask children directly about their experiences (Poehmann et al. 2010;Dallaire et al. 2010;Johnston 2006). For example: the vast majority of studies have garnered information about children from adult sources, largely based on behavioural observations with little if any emphasis on the feelings, thoughts, and ideas formulated by the children themselves. ...
Within the emerging field of the collateral consequences of incarceration, children of prisoners have become a topic in their own right, with research often focused on these children’s behavioural outcomes, and as a means of exploring the intergenerational transmission of crime. What has received less attention are children’s own thoughts and feelings about parental incarceration; academic studies that engage children and youth directly about their experiences are still uncommon. A variety of ethical, methodological and ideological issues help to explain this gap.
This chapter describes the state of research into children’s self-reported experiences of parental incarceration and the value of researchers asking children themselves about their experience. Practical issues, including recruitment, research ethics and creative methodologies, are reviewed. This chapter draws on the experience of a recent qualitative study of Canadian children of prisoners which included interviews with children and youth about their own opinions, beliefs, advice and experience of parental incarceration. Like others, I found that that using an approach which centres children’s own voices and values
them as competent reporters on their own lives, generated rich, useful and unique insights into parental incarceration.
... The implication is that state inclusionary regimes need to more proactively address stigma and stereotyping, as well as other salient problems that may be less understood but also impact the children of incarcerated parents (e.g. Dallaire et al., 2010;Wildeman et al., 2017). ...
Paternal incarceration leads to educational disparities among children who are innocent of their fathers’ crimes. The scale and concentration of mass paternal incarceration thus harms millions of innocent American children. Current individuallevel analyses neglect the contribution of macro-level variation in responses of punitive state regimes to this social problem. We hypothesize that state as well as individual level investment in exclusionary paternal incarceration diminishes the educational attainment of children, although state inclusionary investment in welfare and education can offset some – and could potentially offset more - of this harm. Understanding intergenerational educational attainment therefore requires individual- and contextuallevel analyses. We use Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models to analyze the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health. Disparities in postsecondary educational outcomes are especially detrimental for children of incarcerated fathers located in state regimes with high levels of paternal incarceration and concentrated disadvantage. This has important implications for intergenerational occupational and status attainment.
... Prisons can be distressing places for adults and children alike (Arditti 2012), and don't readily lend themselves to private let alone intimate conversations. There is also the danger of judgement and stigma from correctional staff and members of the community generally (Goffman 1963;Braman 2004;Dallaire et al. 2010;Knaphus 2010;Phillips and Gates 2011;Turney and Haskins 2014;. Ultimately, parents -by staying silent on the topic -seem in most cases to be attempting to protect their family. ...
Around one in five prisoners report the previous or current incarceration of a parent. Many such prisoners attest to the long-term negative effects of parental incarceration on one’s own sense of self and on the range and quality of opportunities for building a conventional life. And yet, the problem of intergenerational incarceration has received only passing attention from academics, and virtually little if any consideration from policy makers and correctional officials.
This book – the first of its kind – offers an in-depth examination of the causes, experiences and consequences of intergenerational incarceration. It draws extensively from surveys and interviews with second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-generation prisoners to explicate the personal, familial and socio-economic contexts typically associated with incarceration across generations. The book examines 1) the emergence of the prison as a dominant if not life-defining institution for some families, 2) the link between intergenerational trauma, crime and intergenerational incarceration, 3) the role of police, courts, and corrections in amplifying or ameliorating such problems, and 4) the possible means for preventing intergenerational incarceration. This is undeniably a book that bears witness to many tragic and traumatic stories. But it is also a work premised on the idea that knowing these stories – knowing that they often resist alignment with pre-conceived ideas about who prisoners are or who they might become – is part and parcel of advancing critical debate and, more importantly, of creating real change.
... Prisons can be distressing places for adults and children alike (Arditti 2012), and don't readily lend themselves to private let alone intimate conversations. There is also the danger of judgement and stigma from correctional staff and members of the community generally (Goffman 1963;Braman 2004;Dallaire et al. 2010;Knaphus 2010;Phillips and Gates 2011;Turney and Haskins 2014;. Ultimately, parents -by staying silent on the topic -seem in most cases to be attempting to protect their family. ...
... Prisons can be distressing places for adults and children alike (Arditti 2012), and don't readily lend themselves to private let alone intimate conversations. There is also the danger of judgement and stigma from correctional staff and members of the community generally (Goffman 1963;Braman 2004;Dallaire et al. 2010;Knaphus 2010;Phillips and Gates 2011;Turney and Haskins 2014;. Ultimately, parents -by staying silent on the topic -seem in most cases to be attempting to protect their family. ...
... This model is consistent with comments such as engaged parents "take some of that pressure off of the classroom teachers," and an ideal level of parent engagement is "parents in your classroom all the time, just helping, volunteering, bringing food, reading books". This model is also consistent with research showing significant associations between teacher-perceived parent engagement and expectations for the student's academic success, particularly for children of color and children of immigrant parents (Dallaire et al. 2010;Ho and Cherng 2018). Indeed, parents may volunteer because they assume it will promote more positive teacher regard toward their child. ...
Objectives
Parent engagement in early learning has historically been defined quite broadly and it is unclear whether those designing, implementing, evaluating, or participating in parent engagement initiatives conceptualize parent engagement in the same way. Lack of consensus could contribute to poor quality of parent-school partnerships and reliance on parent engagement measures and strategies that lack meaning and utility. We explored and compared definitions and characteristics of parent engagement in early learning across multiple stakeholders in one urban school district serving predominantly low-income, African American, and Latinx families.
Methods
Using a qualitative descriptive design, we individually interviewed 63 parents (n = 23), teachers (n = 8), early childhood staff (n = 8), district leaders (n = 7), and community leaders (n = 8) to understand how each defined parent engagement in early learning and the characteristics they believed were indicative of an engaged parent.
Results
Nine different definitions were described; the majority centering on parents’ responsibilities for ensuring engagement. We found wide differences within and across stakeholder groups in how parent engagement is defined and operationalized.
Conclusions
There was little consensus in how parent engagement was conceptualized, suggesting there may be different working models for how stakeholders believe parent engagement supports early learning. Three potential parent engagement models are discussed in relation to the qualitative findings. This is the first study to directly compare different stakeholders’ perspectives about parent engagement in early learning in an urban school system serving a large number of low income families and families of color.
Parental incarceration is a significant, inequitably distributed form of adversity that affects millions of US children and increases their risk for emotional and behavioral problems. An emerging body of research also indicates, however, that children exhibit resilience in the context of parental incarceration. This article reviews evidence regarding the adverse implications of parental incarceration for children's adjustment and considers factors that account for these consequences with special attention to naturally occurring processes and interventions that may mitigate risk and contribute to positive youth development. We also offer a critical reframing of resilience research and argue that ( a) scholars should adopt more contextualized approaches to the study of resilience that are sensitive to intersecting inequalities and ( b) resilience research and practice should be conceptualized as important complements to, rather than substitutes for, social and institutional change. We conclude by offering social justice–informed recommendations for future research and practice.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Volume 19 is May 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Parental incarceration has negative effects on children’s educational outcomes. Past studies have only analyzed, and therefore only treated as consequential, parental incarceration that occurs during childhood rather than prenatally. Such analyses that emphasize the importance only of events that occur during one’s lifetime are common in life course studies. This paper introduces an “entwined life events” perspective, which argues that certain events are so consequential to multiple persons’ lives that they should be analyzed as events within multiple independent life courses; parental incarceration, whenever it occurs, is entwined across and shapes both parents’ and children’s lives. Drawing on data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we find that parental incarceration, both prenatal and during childhood, significantly influences children’s academic ability measures and years of completed schooling. Our results show heterogeneous effects by children’s race. We find that the absolute magnitude of parental incarceration effect estimates is largest for White children relative to estimates for Black and Hispanic children. At the same time, outcome levels tend to be poorer for Black and Hispanic children with parental incarceration experience. We explain this racial heterogeneity as confounded by the many other social disadvantages that non-White children encounter, resulting in the individual effect of parental incarceration not being extremely disruptive to their academic growth.
This study is aimed to investigate how paternal incarceration moderates the genetic association with children’s educational attainment. Based on gene-environment interaction (G × E) models, we hypothesize that exposure to paternal incarceration, a critical source of health and social disadvantages, may reduce children’s genetic potential for educational attainment. To test the hypothesis, we conduct an analysis based on a whole-genome polygenic score for educational attainment using data from participants of European ancestry in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). To guard against false-positive findings due to passive gene-environment correlation, we replicated the analysis based on participants raised by a social (i.e., non-biological) father. We find that the association between the education polygenic score and educational attainment observed at Wave 5 is significantly lower among Add Health participants who experienced paternal incarceration than those who never experienced paternal incarceration. This study provides evidence that social and genetic factors jointly and interactively influence educational attainment. It demonstrates how developmental and life-course criminology can be integrated with socio-genomic research to improve our understanding of the consequences of criminal justice involvement.
Mass incarceration has fundamental adverse effects that include weakening families and intimate relationships, altering children’s life chances, and undermining communities. Serious work on those effects began in the late 1990s and laid foundations on which subsequent research has built. More recent work, especially in the past dozen years, is more complex and has produced findings that are more nuanced and mixed. It is also theoretically and conceptually richer. The newer work involves substantially greater cross-disciplinary engagement, draws on new and more diverse data sources, and pays greater attention to pathways into prison. Fundamental challenges persist. They include measurement problems, overlap between the criminal justice and other governmental systems (e.g., education, public health, social welfare), and generalizability issues. Mixed results, definitional disagreements, and measurement challenges should encourage researchers to embrace complexity in the study of the effects of incarceration on family and community life.
Children of incarcerated parents may have traumatic experiences that correlate with negative educational and mental health outcomes. School counselors are ideally suited to provide trauma-informed school counseling for children of incarcerated parents through individual, group, or classroom counseling interventions while also collaborating with stakeholders. This chapter provides school counselors an overview of the possible trauma of parental incarceration while describing approaches to help meet the needs of students. The authors describe the importance of collaborating with caregivers, administrators, school nurses, and teachers to help promote a positive school climate, offer support, and reduce the possible stigma connected to parental incarceration. The authors recommend advocacy practices and future research areas to continue to promote trauma-informed school counseling for children of incarcerated parents.
This study examines the relationship between incarcerated parents and their children. A total of 110 participants in the “Reading for a Change” program at three Colorado correctional facilities were recruited. Using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, incarcerated parents were asked about their relationships with their children and the impact incarceration has had on their families. Results indicated considerable barriers to visits, high costs of keeping in touch, significant impacts on the family at home, strained financial support, and important reported changes in children's behavior.
This chapter examines the parent-child bond when a parent is incarcerated in state or federal prison. The purpose is to prepare helping professionals to support children who wish to maintain relationships with their parents during prison sentences. The nature of the parent-child relationship is discussed, and practical strategies are proposed for helping parents to stay a part of their children's lives. Topics include visitation, video visits, phone calls, letter writing, emails, and parental participation in education. Logistics of these activities are discussed, and child-friendly activities are suggested to help prepare children for interacting with their parent within the context of the correctional system. Contraindications for such contact are also noted. The chapter concludes with recommendations for professional advocacy.
One in fourteen children experience the incarceration of a parent only to be reunited upon release where risk for recidivism remains high—the implications of which for children’s well-being is not well understood. To fill this gap, the study uses data from the Multi-site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting and Partnering to follow 543 justice-involved fathers 18-months post-release. Results suggest that stable reentry trajectories are associated with children’s decreased behavior problems, particularly for those who are non-residential. Boys and older children may be more negatively influenced by frequency of recidivism whereas girls and younger children may benefit more from longer durations of community time. Findings inform strategies that ease reintegration processes and improve well-being for children in justice-involved families.
Low educational expectations for children placed in out-of-home care (OHC) are often proposed as a contributing factor to poor educational outcomes of children in OHC. However, very little empirical evidence exists on the association between educational expectations and educational outcomes of children in OHC, and the theoretical underpinnings of what drives a potential association are limited in the OHC literature. The purpose of this study is to contribute with theoretical and empirical knowledge about the relationship between educational expectations, individual characteristics and achievement of children in OHC. We propose a theoretical model of the relationship between expectations and achievement and empirically test fundamental parts of the model using path analysis on survey, academic and psychometric data on 132-139 Danish children in foster care. Our findings show that educational expectations of teachers and foster mothers do matter for the children’s academic performance in math, while only the foster mothers’ educational expectations matter for reading performance. Educational expectations impact educational performance both directly and indirectly through the mediation of child characteristics. Importantly, our findings also show that the formation of the expectations of teachers and foster mothers draw on child age and observations of the children’s abilities and functioning including their level of IQ and psychosocial adjustment. Hence, we argue, that raising educational expectations alone is an insufficient measure to increase the educational performance of children in OHC. Instead, we must work to find suitable interventions to overcome the excessive prevalence of developmental and learning problems among children in OHC
Teacher expectations are associated with student academic achievement, but no research has generated new theory that explains how teacher expectation effects occur from students' perspectives. A substantive theory explaining the process through which students reconcile with their teachers' expectations is presented in this paper, emphasising the role of caring student-teacher relationships in teacher expectation effects on academic achievement. The theory was constructed with 25 grade 10 participants across three Western Australian secondary schools, with data including 100 interviews and 175 classroom observations. The analysis and synthesis of the data confirmed that the students acted in ways that they reflected improved their academic attainment when their teachers communicated high expectations of them. Noddings' enduring philosophy of the ‘ethic of care’ is used as a discussion framework, emphasising implications for how teachers practise and learn to interact with their students so that they can initiate positive teacher expectation effects on student learning.
This study tried to figure out the role of Emotional Intelligence for developing coping strategies among adolescents who face traumatic events. Late adolescence students who have enrolled into the university education (Bachelors /Masters) were selected as the sample. University education is an important stage of students’ academic life. Therefore, all students need to develop their competencies to attain the goal of passing examinations and also to developing their wisdom related to scientific knowledge they gathered through their academic life. Study has been conducted in a cross cultural manner and it took place in Germany and Sri Lanka. Late adolescence is a critical period of human being as it is a foot step in their life which acquiring the emotional and social qualities in their social life. There are many adolescents who have affected by traumatic events during their life span but have not been identified or treated. More specifically, there are numerous burning issues within first year of the university students namely, ragging done by seniors to juniors, bulling, invalidation and issues raise based on attitudes changes and orientation issues. Those factors can be traumatic for both their academic and day to day life style. Older, involved in ragging students sometimes have to left the university (As a result of suspension). Younger students may be traumatized as victims of Raggings and thus impaired in their social life. Determining the resilience, emotional damage, post-traumatic stress disorder of those affected by ragging are strictly necessary in order to achieve effective rehabilitation of students regarding their academic performance of their social life at the university.
We draw on structured data collected in connection with a three-generation study of a large heterogenous sample of youth to further develop our life-course perspective on parental incarceration and other family-based sources of risk and resilience. Whereas prior studies have inadequately accounted for negative dynamics connected to parents’ antisociality and problem behaviors, we uncover key differences in parents’ levels of crime, substance use, intimate partner violence, and parenting strategies among those with and without a history of incarceration. Looking beyond the parent-child dyad, we also identify important differences in youths’ broader social networks, including problem alcohol and drug use, mental health problems, criminal justice involvement, and employment difficulties among associates both within and outside the home. Despite this general portrait of greater social and economic disadvantage, we did find evidence of family-based strengths or resilience, as children exposed to parental incarceration fared better when they were also exposed to more positive parenting practices. We discuss the implications of approaches that similarly consider incarceration in tandem with other ongoing family experiences and dynamics for research, theorizing, and programmatic responses.
With 20-27,000 children in Scotland experiencing a parent’s imprisonment and many more their parent’s involvement in the wider criminal justice system, it is vital that children’s needs and preferences are understood and acted upon. Parental imprisonment or involvement with the justice system short of imprisonment is a cause of deleterious chronic stress and adverse childhood experience. This 18-month participative study in Scotland was designed to establish the problems of having a parent involved in the criminal justice system and to co-produce solutions with affected families. The experiences of 14 children and young people were elicited through interviews (supplemented with input from parents and professionals), followed by a family consultation event. Schools elicited complex relationships of both stress and threat, an outlet, and a means for positive achievement despite the stressors. Schools need proactively to identify children who are struggling emotionally and to provide sensitive, discreet support. Children felt victimised by authorities and the community, experiencing devastating family disruption and loss of childhood. Community-based interventions could educate others about the impact on children of victimisation. Young people emphasised the need to humanise their experience from point-of-arrest to years after release. They sought more child-friendly prison visiting, physical contact, and meaningful activity with their parent. Parents wanted the development of parent-to-parent and young people-led support groups. A means to signpost affected families to self-support groups is needed. A model of symbiotic harm is used to offer theoretical context to the findings.
This study examined early childhood paternal incarceration (PI; birth to Age 6) effects on children's elementary reading achievement (i.e., Ages 8–10) as mediated by mothers' supportive caregiving and moderated by child gender. Extant research on PI has primarily focused on child behavioral problems. However, less is known about specific relations between PI and academic achievement. Participants were drawn from an ongoing, longitudinal study of development using a subsample of 180 children and their maternal caregivers (51.5% female children; 48.9% Latinx; 26.7% experienced PI). Study variables were assessed using semi‐structured incarceration interviews, observational parenting tasks, and standardized achievement tests. A moderated mediation analysis evaluated the hypothesized model by child gender. PI predicted decreased maternal supportive caregiving, which, in turn, predicted lower reading achievement, even when family socioeconomic status, child ethnicity‐race, prior supportive caregiving, prior reading achievement, and maternal psychopathology were held constant. Further, a moderation analysis indicated that the relation between maternal supportive caregiving and reading achievement was moderated by child gender. This investigation revealed a significant and negative indirect effect of early childhood PI on children's reading achievement via changes in maternal supportive caregiving. However, this indirect effect was significant for boys only. These findings highlight the potential for interventions and resources that promote supportive maternal caregiving to mitigate the deleterious effects of PI on children's reading achievement, especially for boys.
Researchers have written a good deal in the last two decades about the relationship between public education and criminal justice as a pipeline by which public school practices correlate with or cause increased lifetime risk for incarceration for Black and Latinx youth. This article flips the script of the school-to-prison pipeline metaphor by reversing the question. What are the effects of criminal justice on public schooling? Reviewing recent social science research from multiple disciplines on policing and incarceration, this article describes the relationship of criminal justice to public education as hobbling, a social process by which the massification of policing and incarceration systematically compromises the ability of target demographics of American children to enjoy their rights to a free and appropriate public education.
Od kilku lat wzrasta zainteresowanie problematyką rozwoju dziecka i wystąpieniu zaburzeń w jego zachowaniu w kontekście rodzicielskiego uwięzienia. Naukowcy podejmują próby ustalenia czy uwięzienie rodziców jest objawem globalnej dysfunkcyjności rodziny, czy raczej niezależnym czynnikiem ryzyka, na które może być narażone dziecko. W niniejszym artykule zostanie przedstawiona analiza dotychczasowych najważniejszych badań poświęconych nastoletnim dzieciom osób odbywających karę pozbawienia wolności, rekomendacje dotyczące przyszłych badań i przykłady interwencji przeznaczonych dla tej grupy.
Although research on the intergenerational consequences of criminal justice contact has focused primarily on parental incarceration, scholars have called for greater attention to the reverberating effects of other family members’ entanglements with law enforcement on youth. Using longitudinal data from the Mobile Youth Survey (MYS), this study examines direct and indirect linkages between household member arrest and youth outcomes and considers the roles of social (parenting, peer normative climate) and emotional (anger expression) processes. Results suggest that household members’ involvement with the criminal justice system has consequences for youth’s behavioral and criminal justice outcomes. Moreover, although social and emotional processes appeared to “matter,” they did not account for the negative outcomes associated with household member arrest. Results suggest the importance of adopting broader perspectives on family criminal justice contact that include attention to household member arrest as well as to both direct and indirect effects. Findings are discussed in terms of directions for future research and the need to specify mechanisms by which household member arrest may increase risk for adverse youth outcomes.
Stigma is often cited as a mechanism driving the consequences of incarceration for formerly incarcerated people and their families. Few studies, however, provide quantitative evidence of the nature and strength of stigma stemming from direct and indirect interaction with jails. In this article, we use an experimental vignette design to make two contributions. First, we use two nonincarceration control groups that allow us to differentiate the stigma attached to incarceration relative to one condition that is not stigmatized (colorblindness) from another that is (drug addiction). Second, we test whether having a partner or family member who has been incarcerated in jail generates stigma. We find that having a formerly incarcerated relative negatively impacts perceptions of personality traits, financial deservingness, and parenting quality. We also show that the stigmatized control condition is comparable with the prior incarceration of a male relative, but more favorable than one’s own prior incarceration, indicating unique incarceration stigma. These findings have implications for our understanding of social inequality because they demonstrate how members of marginalized groups who are most likely to experience incarceration or have an incarcerated loved one continue to face informal social exclusion and the attendant consequences long after the formal punishment.
Introduction
In beginning a study of children of prisoners in Canada 2011, I immediately faced a significant hurdle: no one seemed to know anything about my topic. As I widened my net to approach policy makers, advocacy organizations, social service agencies, child welfare agencies, probation services, and anyone else I could think of, I kept receiving a variation of the same response: ‘Oh that’s interesting. We don’t have any data/ programs/ experience, but there must be someone who does?’ Few had any information, resources, or leads, which is curious given there are likely around 40,000 children in Canada who currently have a parent in prison (Knudsen, 2016). Even as I began to meet families of prisoners, I found that few wanted to participate, and a common reason given was that their child didn’t know where the incarcerated parent was.
While I eventually met with several very knowledgeable key informants and generous participant families, the pervasive ignorance about the experiences of Canadian children of prisoners was striking. Indeed, writing about families of prisoners often begins with a mention of their virtual absence from academic research until the 2000s. Until the recent escalation of research, this topic was under-examined, equivocal, and poorly understood, and continues to be so in some country- specific contexts including Canada. McCormick et al. (2014) write, ‘children of criminally incarcerated parents are an invisible population in Canada’. This invisibility extends beyond the lack of academic research; parental incarceration is often enrobed in secrecy, confusion, and misunderstanding— within families, in communities, and in public policy.
In this chapter, I will argue that children of prisoners are rendered invisible from the micro to the macro level, through a series of interconnected processes I will call systemic invisibility. While these children make up a sizeable population, and the experience and outcomes of parental incarceration appear to be significant, they are often hidden from view, subject to layers of invisibility. Starting from children’s own families, to their relationship with their schools and communities, to the policies and practices of the prison systems in which they are so tightly intertwined, and finally to the broader social policy context, I will discuss the ways in which parental incarceration is kept secret, enigmatic, and poorly understood. Finally, I will discuss the meanings and reasons behind these connected layers of invisibility.
Growth in the US incarcerated population over recent decades has brought a burgeoning body of research on parent-child visitations in correctional facilities. In contrast to this research, which has largely focused on prisons, this study reports survey results from over 900 visitors and incarcerated adults in an urban jail system. We center our attention on the commonality of children visiting jail incarcerated parents, the ways in which a jail system may facilitate or hamper the visitation process, and opinions on potential visiting policy modifications, including the use of video visiting. Implications for jail visitation policies are discussed.
The public debate regarding criminals and crime usually deals primarily with the crime and the perpetrator at the time of the crime, but hardly with its development and, above all, little with his family and the impact of detention on them. Especially if the perpetrator still has young children, their development can be significantly negatively affected by the detention of a parent, usually the father. In the last few years, more and more institutions have been created in Germany to take care of the families of the detainees, but there is still a lot of work to be done. In many cases, NGOs are also active in this field. The chapter provides a brief overview of the national and international discussion of the topic. The empirical research clearly shows the negative effects of separating (small) children from their parents. In the case of the detention of a parent, the stigmatisation of the related, especially the children, still plays an essential role. The detention of the mother usually has even more serious negative effects on the children than when the father is in custody. According to German legal provisions on prison sentences, negative effects of a prison sentence should be avoided as far as possible. Much more should be done here, for example through large-scale regulations on the visits of prisoners by relatives.
While an extensive body of literature has analyzed the spillover and intergenerational consequences of mass incarceration, fewer studies explore the consequences of a parallel system: mass immigration detention. Every year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement imprisons hundreds of thousands of noncitizens as they await adjudication on their deportation proceedings, sometimes for months or years at a time. Many detained individuals have lived in the United States for decades and have spouses and/or dependent children that rely on them. This analysis brings together research on immigrant families, mass incarceration, and system avoidance to examine the spillover consequences of immigration detention. Using a multigenerational and multi-perspective research design, we analyze 104 interviews conducted in California with detained parents, non-detained spouses/partners, and their school-age children. Findings suggest that members of these mixed-status families may limit their engagement with surveilling institutions during a family member’s detention. These experiences are rooted in what we call compounded vulnerability—that is, both in the experience of parental/spousal confinement but also as members of mixed-immigration-status families facing the possibility of deportation.
The majority of research on children with incarcerated parents has focused on documenting main effects and adjustment problems among children and families. Although the focus on problems has been crucial in mobilizing support for this population, the field is now at a critical turning point where researchers are calling for more attention to resilience. We argue here that a family resilience perspective is useful in considering child and family level processes that may mitigate the harmful impact of parental incarceration. In contributing to a family resilience agenda, we first review evidence that points to parental incarceration as a risk to children. We then examine research that highlights children's competence in the face of adversity as well as adaptive family processes, such as parenting and contact with the incarcerated parent, that contribute to children's well-being. We offer recommendations for methodological innovation aimed at assessing competence, evaluating interventions, and incorporating multimethod approaches that capture dynamic processes and developmental change. We conclude with practice and policy implications and emphasize how a family resilience agenda suggests the need to contextualize developmental and family strengths within broader systems of discrimination and oppression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Criminal justice contact is a prevalent, if not expected, life event for many high-risk individuals with deleterious consequences; yet, many individuals at high risk are able to avoid this contact (i.e. negative cases exist). In this study, we draw on the life course framework and utilize negative case analysis to (1) estimate the prevalence of criminal justice avoidance within a sample of structurally high-risk Black men and (2) explore the individual, familial and contextual factors in childhood and adolescence that distinguish these negative cases. One’s own ‘on-time’ and one’s siblings’ education emerge as particularly strong protective factors suggesting that the presence of unique protection, as opposed to the absence of risk, may be most salient. Theoretical implications are discussed.
en How do criminal justice interactions affect political participation and through what mechanisms? In this new era of criminal justice expansion, the number of people who have had interactions and who will interact with the criminal justice system has increased significantly. Notwithstanding the abundant scholarship detailing the expansion of the carceral state, the subsequent increases in carceral contact, and the negative externalities of punitivity, we know little about the mechanisms that drive the observed negative political consequences. We know what is happening but not how it is happening. I argue that predacious criminal justice policies are having a negative interpretative policy feedback effect on the well‐being of those contacted. First, I find that feelings of well‐being are strongly associated with political participation. Second, using structural equation modeling, I offer evidence that carceral contact has a strong direct effect on well‐being and a strong indirect effect on political participation mediated through measures of well‐being. Twenty‐three percent of the political suppression effect is an indirect effect of carceral contact mediated through well‐being.
Abstract
zh 与刑事司法产生的互动如何影响政治参与？通过哪些机制？在刑事司法扩大的新时代，那些曾与刑事司法体系有过接触，或将要接触该体系的人群数量已经显著增加。尽管存在大量学术文献详细描述刑事司法状态（carceral state）的扩大、随后刑事司法接触的增加、以及惩罚的消极外部性，但我们对所观察到的消极政治结果的驱动机制知之甚少。我们知道正在发生的是什么，但不知道它是如何发生的。我论证认为，暴力刑事司法政策正对那些被接触者的福祉产生消极的诠释性政策反馈效应。第一，我发现幸福感与政治参与强烈相关。第二，通过使用结构方程模型，我证明刑事司法接触对福祉产生强烈的直接效果，且对政治参与产生强烈的间接效果，这些效果是通过衡量幸福感产生的。通过衡量幸福感，23%的政治压迫效果是刑事司法接触产生的间接效果。
Abstract
es ¿Cómo afectan las interacciones de la justicia penal a la participación política y a través de qué mecanismos? En esta nueva era de expansión de la justicia penal, el número de personas que han tenido interacciones y que interactuarán con el sistema de justicia penal ha aumentado significativamente. A pesar de la abundante erudición que detalla la expansión del estado carcelario, los aumentos posteriores en el contacto carcelario y las externalidades negativas de la punibilidad, sabemos poco sobre los mecanismos que impulsan las consecuencias políticas negativas observadas. Sabemos lo que está sucediendo, pero no cómo está sucediendo. Sostengo que las políticas de justicia penal predadoras están teniendo un efecto negativo de retroalimentación de política interpretativa sobre el bienestar de los contactados. Primero, encuentro que los sentimientos de bienestar están fuertemente asociados con la participación política. En segundo lugar, utilizando el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, ofrezco evidencia de que el contacto en la cárcel tiene un fuerte efecto directo sobre el bienestar y un fuerte efecto indirecto sobre la participación política mediada a través de medidas de bienestar. El 23% del efecto de supresión política es un efecto indirecto del contacto en la cárcel mediado por el bienestar.
We investigated whether maternal psychopathology predicts offspring mental health service utilization in adolescents without mental disorders. We used weighted data (N = 2317) from NCS-A participants (age: 13–18 years) who did not meet DSM-IV criteria for any lifetime mental disorder. Adolescent mental disorders were assessed with the WHO CIDI. Maternal psychopathology was obtained by self-report. Adolescent mental health service use was assessed with the Service Assessment for Children and Adolescents. Substantial associations between maternal psychopathology and mental health service use in offspring without mental disorders were found between affective disorders and the mental health/medical specialty (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.60–3.90) and any service sector (HR = 2.14, CI = 1.45–3.16), anxiety disorders and any service sector (HR = 1.63, CI = 1.13–2.35), behavior disorders and the school (HR = 3.69, CI = 1.39–9.77) and any service sector (HR = 2.81, CI = 1.12–7.07), substance use disorders and the mental health/medical specialty (HR = 3.75, CI = 1.75–8.03), the school (HR = 3.17, CI = 1.43–7.02), and any service sector (HR = 3.66, CI = 2.00–6.70), and any mental disorder and the mental health/medical specialty (HR = 2.10, CI = 1.34–3.30) and any service sector (HR = 2.03, CI = 1.40–2.92). Results were comparable when restricting analyses to offspring with no indication of suicidality and no more than three life events during the past 12 months. The likelihood of service use was higher among offspring of mothers with mental disorders, compared to mothers without mental disorders. Considering maternal mental disorder status may help to identify subjects at risk of overtreatment.
This study evaluates the assumption common to teacher education programs that, when preservice teachers’ subject matter knowledge is enhanced by a formal psychological understanding of learners and learning, superior instruction results. Preservice language arts teachers (N = 113) were asked to determine what they thought would constitute appropriate responses to a middle school student's request for feedback about his poem. The responses of the preservice teachers were such that formalist thinking predominated over instructional feedback intended to increase literary skills. The researchers argue that, if preservice teachers’ beliefs are hardy and often prove highly resistant to change, there is reason to be concerned with the educational perspectives that a formalistic understanding of psychology helps foster.
Although it is clear that parental incarceration has adverse effects on children, there is limited information about effective services for helping this population. With an increase in the number of parents of minor children in jail, there is a need for schools to assist affected students in a structured and comprehensive manner. The purpose of this article is to describe a group intervention, recently piloted in Los Angeles County, that provides support to elementary children of incarcerated parents. An eight session framework is described. Prescreening issues, theoretical considerations, and leadership recommendations are also discussed.
In order to effectively help children whose mothers become involved with the criminal justice system, it is important to understand their differing needs. To that end, the analyses described in this article explore the heterogeneity in parent and family risks among a group of children whose mothers had contact with the criminal justice system. Using data from an epidemiologic study of youth, results showed that the two most prevalent problems in the backgrounds of this group of youth were poverty (61.5%) and maternal mental health problems (54.9%). But, results of cluster analyses suggest this group is actually made up of four meaningfully different subgroups: (1) children with only isolated risks, (2) children with histories of abuse, (3) children who have multiple parents/caregivers with histories of drug abuse and/or mental health problems, and (4) children whose parents have few problems, but who are living in economically deprived, single-parent households.
The authors examined predictors of teachers' ratings of academic competence of 105 kindergarten children from low-income families. Teachers rated target children's expected competence in literacy and math and completed questions about their perceptions of congruence-dissonance between themselves and the child's parents regarding education-related values. Independent examiners assessed children's literacy and math skills. Teachers' instructional styles were observed and rated along dimensions of curriculum-centered and student-centered practices. Controlling for children's skills and socioeconomic status, teachers rated children as less competent when they perceived value differences with parents. These patterns were stronger for teachers who exhibited curriculum-centered, rather than student-centered, practices. The findings suggest a mechanism by which some children from low-income families enter a path of diminished expectations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Despite the dramatic increase in incarcerated mothers that has occurred in the past decades, there is a paucity of family research focusing on the children affected by maternal imprisonment. The present study investigated family environments and intellectual outcomes in 60 children between the ages of 2 and 7 years during their mothers’ incarceration. Multiple methods were used to collect data from children, mothers, and children's nonmaternal caregivers. Results indicated that most children experienced multiple risks across contextual levels. Cumulative caregiver sociodemographic risks predicted children's cognitive abilities, although quality of the home and family environment mediated this relation. Results underscore the importance of children's family environments and highlight the need for increased monitoring, service delivery, and longitudinal research with children of incarcerated mothers and their families.
We review the literature on children whose mothers are incarcerated in jails or prisons. These children typically experience a great many risk factors besides their mothers' incarceration, including poverty, drug and alcohol problems in their families, community violence, and multiple changes in caregivers. Children's lives are greatly disrupted when mothers are arrested, and most children show emotional and behavioral problems. The impact this has depends on the age of the child, the alternate caregiving arrangements, and the course of the mother's incarceration. Children of incarcerated mothers experience internalizing (fear, withdrawal, depression, emotional disturbance) and externalizing (anger, fighting, stealing, substance abuse) problems, as well as heightened rates of school failure and eventual criminal activity and incarceration. Research in this area is scarce and often of poor quality. A research agenda which is guided by a transactional, ecological, and developmental model, and which examines children's well-being over the course of the mothers' incarceration is suggested.
G*Power is a free power analysis program for a variety of statistical tests. We present extensions and improvements of the version introduced by Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, and Buchner (2007) in the domain of correlation and regression analyses. In the new version, we have added procedures to analyze the power of tests based on (1) single-sample tetrachoric correlations, (2) comparisons of dependent correlations, (3) bivariate linear regression, (4) multiple linear regression based on the random predictor model, (5) logistic regression, and (6) Poisson regression. We describe these new features and provide a brief introduction to their scope and handling.
This research examined moderators of naturally occurring self-fulfilling prophecies. The authors assessed whether positive or negative self-fulfilling prophecies were more powerful and whether some targets were more susceptible to self-fulfilling prophecies because of their self-concepts in a particular achievement domain and previous academic records. Participants were 98 teachers and 1,539 students in sixth-grade public school math classes. Results yielded a strong pattern showing that teacher perceptions predicted achievement more strongly for low achievers than for high achievers. Results also yielded a much weaker pattern showing that teacher overestimates predicted achievement more strongly than teacher underestimates. Implications for social perceptual accuracy, self-enhancement theory, and understanding when self-fulfilling prophecies are stronger are discussed.
This article shows that 35 years of empirical research on teacher expectations justifies the following conclusions: (a) Self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom do occur, but these effects are typically small, they do not accumulate greatly across perceivers or over time, and they may be more likely to dissipate than accumulate; (b) powerful self-fulfilling prophecies may selectively occur among students from stigmatized social groups; (c) whether self-fulfilling prophecies affect intelligence, and whether they in general do more harm than good, remains unclear, and (d) teacher expectations may predict student outcomes more because these expectations are accurate than because they are self-fulfilling. Implications for future research, the role of self-fulfilling prophecies in social problems, and perspectives emphasizing the power of erroneous beliefs to create social reality are discussed.
Representations of attachment relationships were assessed in 54 children ages 2.5 to 7.5 years whose mothers were currently incarcerated. Consistent with their high-risk status, most (63%) children were classified as having insecure relationships with mothers and caregivers. Secure relationships were more likely when children lived in a stable caregiving situation, when children reacted to separation from the mother with sadness rather than anger, and when children were older. Common reactions to initial separation included sadness, worry, confusion, anger, loneliness, sleep problems, and developmental regressions. Results highlight need for support in families affected by maternal imprisonment, especially efforts to promote stable, continuous placements for children, in addition to underscoring the importance of longitudinal research with this growing but understudied group.
The goal was to evaluate whether children of incarcerated fathers are more likely to report or exhibit behavioral symptoms than their equally disadvantaged peers without an incarcerated father.
During an ongoing longitudinal study of intrauterine cocaine exposure involving 102 children (50% male and 89% black) from urban, low-income homes, questions regarding incarceration of the child's father were asked of the child's primary caregiver at each visit during school age. Children were administered the Children's Depression Inventory between the ages of 6 and 11 years, and their primary caregivers completed the Child Behavior Checklist. In addition, the children's teachers completed the Teacher Report Form. Children's Depression Inventory, Child Behavior Checklist, and Teacher Report Form data obtained at the oldest available age after the first report of paternal incarceration were analyzed.
In bivariate analyses, children whose fathers were in jail had higher Children's Depression Inventory total scores compared with children without incarcerated fathers, indicating more depressive symptoms. This finding was robust in multivariate analyses after adjustment for children's age, gender, prenatal cocaine and alcohol exposure, and school-age violence exposure. Teachers reported higher Teacher Report Form externalizing scores for children whose fathers were in jail, after adjustment for age, gender, prenatal cocaine and marijuana exposure, and school-age violence exposure.
Children of incarcerated fathers reported more depressive symptoms and their teachers noted more externalizing behaviors, after controlling for other biopsychosocial risks. Interventions targeted to ameliorate the distress of children with incarcerated fathers should be considered.
Qualitative studies suggest that children react to parental imprisonment by developing internalizing as well as externalizing behaviors. However, no previous study has examined the effects of parental imprisonment on children's internalizing problems using standardized instruments, appropriate comparison groups, and long-term follow-up. Using prospective longitudinal data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, we compared boys separated because of parental imprisonment during their first 10 years of life with four control groups: boys who did not experience separation, boys separated because of hospitalization or death, boys separated for other reasons (usually parental disharmony), and boys whose parents were only imprisoned before the boys' births. Individual, parenting, and family risk factors for internalizing problems were measured when boys were ages 8-11 years. Separation because of parental imprisonment predicted boys' internalizing problems from age 14 to 48, even after controlling for childhood risk factors including parental criminality. Separation because of parental imprisonment also predicted the co-occurrence of internalizing and antisocial problems. These results suggest that parental imprisonment might cause long-lasting internalizing and antisocial problems for children.
Data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being show that approximately I in 8 (12.5%) children who are subjects of reports of maltreatment investigated by child welfare services (CWS) agencies have parents who were recently arrested. Compared with other children who come to the attention of CWS agencies, those with arrested parents are younger, disproportionately African American, and significantly more likely to be in out-of-home care. Approximately 2 in 5 children age 2 and older with arrested parents had a clinically significant emotional or behavioral problem, yet only 1 in 10 received mental health care. Although parent characteristics varied by race, rates of substance abuse, serious mental illness, domestic violence, and problems meeting basic needs were higher among arrested parents than among other parents.
Four meta-analyses were conducted to examine gender differences in personality in the literature (1958-1992) and in normative data for well-known personality inventories (1940-1992). Males were found to be more assertive and had slightly higher self-esteem than females. Females were higher than males in extraversion, anxiety, trust, and, especially, tender-mindedness (e.g., nurturance). There were no noteworthy sex differences in social anxiety, impulsiveness, activity, ideas (e.g., reflectiveness), locus of control, and orderliness. Gender differences in personality traits were generally constant across ages, years of data collection, educational levels, and nations.
G*Power (Erdfelder, Faul, & Buchner, 1996) was designed as a general stand-alone power analysis program for statistical tests commonly used in social and behavioral research. G*Power 3 is a major extension of, and improvement over, the previous versions. It runs on widely used computer platforms (i.e., Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4) and covers many different statistical tests of the t, F, and chi2 test families. In addition, it includes power analyses for z tests and some exact tests. G*Power 3 provides improved effect size calculators and graphic options, supports both distribution-based and design-based input modes, and offers all types of power analyses in which users might be interested. Like its predecessors, G*Power 3 is free.
Released in 1965, the Moynihan Report traced the severe social and economic distress of poor urban African Americans to high rates of single-parenthood. Against Moynihan's calls for social investment in poor inner-city communities, politics moved in a punitive direction, driving massive growth in the prison population. The authors document the emergence of mass incarceration and describe its significance for African American family life. The era of mass incarceration can be understood as a new stage in the history of American racial inequality. Because of its recent arrival, the social impact of mass incarceration remains poorly understood. The authors conclude by posing several key research questions that can illuminate the effects of dramatic growth in the American penal system.
This study examined attributes of parenting that are associated with juvenile delinquency and the related differential life experiences of youth with and without a parental incarceration history. Among 1,112 juveniles, 31% had a parental history of incarceration. Bivariate analysis indicated support for three hypotheses: (a) parents who have experienced incarceration will exhibit lower levels of effective parenting and greater association with factors that can impede their parenting abilities, namely substance abuse and mental illness; (b) youth who have parents with an incarceration history will be more likely to have experienced negative effects of ineffective parenting, namely abuse and out of home placement; and (c) youth with a parental incarceration history will have longer and more serious delinquent histories of their own. Through binary logistic regression analysis, support was not found for the fourth hypothesis that history of parental incarceration predicts delinquent behavior.
Contrasts the naturalistic research paradigm with the scientific model, noting that the naturalistic paradigm assumes multiple reality, subject-object interrelatedness, and contextuality. Skills required for the pursuit of naturalistic inquiry are described. (JEG)
This report presents information on the characteristics of parents incarcerated in state or federal prisons. Data were obtained from personal interviews conducted for the 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities. Findings indicated that a majority of state and federal prisoners were the parents of at least one minor child. Prior to incarceration, 44 percent of fathers and 64 percent of mothers lived with their children. Nearly half of incarcerated parents were black; about a quarter were white. Parents in state prison were younger than those in federal prison. Most parents in state (70 percent) and federal (55 percent) prisons lacked a high school diploma. Forty percent of fathers and 60 percent of mothers in state prison had at least weekly contact with their children. In state prisons, mothers consistently reported more frequent contact with their children than fathers. In federal prisons, mothers and fathers had more similar levels of contact with their children. A majority of incarcerated parents were violent offenders or drug traffickers. A majority of parents in state prison used drugs in the month before their offense. One-third of mothers in state prison committed their crime to obtain drugs or money for drugs. The report also presents information on parents' marital status, expected time served, previous drug and alcohol use, prior convictions and incarcerations, sex differences in type of offenses, mental illness, and previous homelessness. The report's appendix describes the methodology and presents information on the standard errors for selected characteristics of state and federal prisoners with minor children. (KB)
This chapter provides an overview of research on accuracy, error, bias, and self-fulfilling prophecies. It also reviews a research showing that teacher expectations predict student achievement—mainly because they are accurate, although they do lead to small self-fulfilling prophecies and biases. The conditions under which self-fulfilling prophecies might be considerably more powerful are embarked. The results of new research showing that teacher expectancy effects are more powerful among girls, students from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds or African–Americans are also addressed. Some evidence of bias show differences in teacher's perceptions of students from the differing groups corresponded well to actual differences among those same groups of students. The chapter also analyzes ways to distinguish among self fulfilling prophecies, perceptual biases, and accuracy, and examines processes underlying expectancy-related phenomena—discoveries have some relevance and applicability to many other relationships beyond teachers and students. Conceptual model of relationships between teacher perceptions and student achievement and some evidence regarding the role of stereotypes in naturally occurring person perception is also explained in the chapter.
Examined differential expectancy effects as a function of teachers' susceptibility to biasing information and the distinction between positive ("Galatea") and negative ("Golem") outcomes of teacher expectancies. 26 biased and unbiased student teachers were identified on the basis of their susceptibility to biasing information in scoring drawings allegedly made by high- or low-status students. High-bias teachers treated the students they perceived to be of low potential negatively while at the same time treating randomly selected students in a manipulated high-expectancy group as favorably as they treated the students they themselves nominated as being of high potential. Unbiased teachers treated all 3 groups of students (
N = 202) equitably. The strongest and most consistent Golem effects were observed for behavioral manifestations of dogmatism. These patterns of differential negative expectancy effects were evident not only in teachers' behavior but also in students' actual performance of specially designed tasks. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
States that the impact of parental incarceration on minor children has been well documented. Children with at least 1 parent in prison are at greater risk to suffer from anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, anger, and attention deficiencies. In comparison to the research on children, less emphasis has been placed on how mothers are affected when they are incarcerated away from their children. The current research focus is how children's visitation programs and parenting classes can improve the relationships between incarcerated women and their children. 58 female prisoners (aged 20-46 yrs) participating in a specialized children's visitation program were interviewed to gain their perceptions of their relationships with their children (n=108; aged 1-16 yrs) and how the program had affected this bond. A comparison group of women not in the program were also questioned about their relationships with their children. The authors suggest that incarcerated mothers respond positively to institutional efforts to keep them in touch with their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The current study investigates differences between inmate mothers’ and fathers’ reported rates of incarceration for family members, adult children, predictors of adult children’s incarceration, and living situations of minor children. Participants included 6,146 inmates who participated in the U.S. Department of Justice Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities. Mothers were 2.5 times more likely to report that their adult children were incarcerated than fathers; mothers’ regular drug use predicted adult child incarceration. Incarcerated mothers reported greater familial incarceration and their minor children were more likely to be in foster and other nonfamilial care situations than incarcerated fathers. As risk factors accumulated, there were greater rates of adult child incarceration, with a more obvious relationship for mothers.
Although prior work has substantiated the role of external attributes in juvenile court decision making, no study to date has examined how family situational factors as well as maternal and paternal incarceration affect juvenile court officials' responses to troubled youth. Using quantitative and qualitative juvenile court data from a large urban county in the southwest, this study draws on attribution theory to examine how family structure, perceptions of family dysfunction, and parental incarceration influence out-of-home placement decisions. Findings reveal that juvenile court officials' perceptions of good and bad families inform their decision making. This study emphasizes the need to unravel the intricate effects of maternal and paternal incarceration and officials' attributions about families and family structure on juvenile court decision making.
Little is known about the experience of families affected by incarceration, yet current trends indicate that millions of children have a parent who is imprisoned. Using a conceptual framework that acknowledges the losses associated with a parent's incarceration, 56 caregivers visiting an incarcerated family member during children's visiting hours were interviewed. The interview gathered information about family, health, economics, and the legal aspects of the inmate's situation. Overall, families were at risk economically before incarceration, and the most vulnerable became even more financially strained afterward. Other problems believed to be created by incarceration included parenting strain, emotional stress, and concerns about children's loss of involvement with their incarcerated parent. Implications for family practice and policy are discussed.
The number of children who experience parental incarceration continues to rise with the United States. In 1999, an estimated
1.5million minor children had a parent in a United States prison. One-fifth of these children are under 5years of age (Mumola,
Incarcerated parents and their children, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, 2000). A brief overview of some of the
issues associated with parental incarceration is presented. The inclusion of books about having a parent in prison in the
classroom is discussed as one method of supporting children and families.
This study examined aspects of the school, community, and home adjustment of 58 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 20
whose mothers were incarcerated. High rates of school drop-out (36%) were observed. Dropping out was related to their mother's
educational attainment. These adolescents were more than four times as likely to be out of school than a sample of their best
friends; four times more likely to be suspended; three times more likely to be significantly absent from school and nearly
four times as likely to be failing classes. More than half of these children required school visits for disciplinary reasons
during the previous 12 months, and more than a quarter of them had been arrested. School problems and delinquent behavior
might be related to the extent of maternal drug use. Although these adolescents initially experienced difficulty adapting
to structured placements, those who were living in homes with rules and with family members had better educational outcomes,
as did children who communicated frequently with their mothers.
Incarcerated mothers represent a rapidly growing sector of the prison population. This review of the literature presents research examining the psychological and socio-emotional well-being of children with an incarcerated mother, highlighting risk and protective factors at different stages of children's development. Child outcomes are reviewed from a developmental perspective with a focus on children's connectedness to family and school. Attachment disruptions and disorganization are explored as outcomes for infants and toddlers; academic difficulties for school-aged children are discussed; and delinquency and risky behaviors that may place adolescent children at increased risk for incarceration themselves are reviewed. Next, special concerns and challenges associated with working with children and families with an incarcerated mother are highlighted. Future research recommendations are made that include methodological improvements and the use of an interdisciplinary perspective that focuses on family processes.
The information reported in this article is based on data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW), a study of a representative sample of children who were subjects of reports of maltreatment. Details of mothers' arrest histories were used to group together mothers who shared similar arrest history characteristics. Three subgroups were identified: (1) mothers with dated arrest histories, (2) mothers with protracted arrest histories, and (3) mothers who were first arrested at a relatively late age. Analyses examined between-group differences in the child, parent, and family problems present in these families. Findings suggest that differences in mothers' arrest histories are associated with meaningfully different service needs. More generally, however, families in which mothers have been arrested have a greater number of service needs making them among the more complex cases confronting child protective service agencies.
This study explores the impact of parental incarceration on children, from the children's own perspectives. The sample includes thirty-four children interviewed regarding how having a parent in prison affected their family and peer relationships, school experiences, their reactions to prison visits, and perceptions of prison. The interviews explored both their challenges and their strengths. The children revealed a variety stresses around social isolation and worrying about their caregivers, but also demonstrated resilience in locating venues for support and self-sufficiency. Recommendations for policy, service, and community actions and interventions are presented.
This is a preliminary report on the characteristics, experiences, and behavior of 88 adolescent, primarily African-American, children of incarcerated urban addict mothers that examines the association of age, gender, and risk factor profiles with the children's adjustment status defined in terms of self-reported questionnaire information and selected personality/behavioral assessment inventories. In spite of the existence of adverse circumstances in their lives, including the incarceration of their substance-abusing mothers, results revealed that the majority of these children were neither especially deviant nor maladjusted, all but a small percentage having successfully avoided substance abuse and the adoption of a deviant lifestyle at this point in their development. In most cases, mother surrogates (usually a grandmother or other family member) had for many years functioned as primary caregivers of the children prior to the incarceration of their birth mothers, which may have attenuated the negative impact ordinarily associated with a mother's absence from the home. However, there was a general indication of problematic school behavior and vulnerability to deviant peer influences that should be addressed in efforts aimed at preventing the escalation of deviant activity in such children. Also, in almost all cases, there was a readily observable need for the provision of caseworker support services to the current caregivers of the children.
This study examined the associations among child demographic variables, teacher perceptions of parent-teacher and student-teacher relationship quality, and teacher perceptions of children's academic abilities in an ethnically diverse sample of 607 academically at-risk first grade children. Relative to relationships with African American children and parents, teachers rated their relationships with White and Hispanic children and parents more positively. Measures of relationship quality added unique variance to teachers' perceptions of children's abilities, controlling for parent educational level and measured ability. Relationship variables fully mediated the association between African American status and teachers' perceptions of children's abilities. Implications of the findings for teacher in-service and professional development and for parent involvement programs are discussed.
The population of incarcerated individuals in the United States has risen dramatically in the last decade. There is very little information available about the psychological reactions or adjustment of the children of these incarcerated individuals, although it is likely that this population of apparently high risk children also has increased. This article reviews the literature on the behavioral problems and adjustment of children during the time of their parent's incarceration. It discusses these children and their behavior in the context of their family characteristics, their prognosis, and their current clinical needs.
Summary — Within each of 18 classrooms, an average of 20% of the children were reported to classroom teachers as showing unusual potential for intellectual gains. Eight months later these "unusual" children (who had actually been selected at random) showed significantly greater gains in IQ than did the remaining chil- dren in the control group. These effects of teachers' expectancies operated prima- rily among the younger children. 1 Experiments have shown that in behavioral research employing human or animal Ss, E's expect- ancy can be a significant determinant of S's response (Rosenthal, 1964, in press). In studies employing animals, for example, E's led to believe that their rat Ss had been bred for superior learning ability obtained performance superior to that obtained by Es led to believe their rats had been bred for inferior learning ability (Rosenthal & Fode, 1963; Rosenthal & Lawson, 1964). The present study was designed to extend the generality of this finding from Es to teachers and from animal Ss to school children. 2 Flanagan (1960) has developed a nonverbal intelligence test (Tests of General Ability or TOGA) which is not explicitly dependent on such school learned skills as reading, writing, and arith- metic. The test is composed of two types of items, "verbal" and "reasoning." The "verbal" items measure the child's level of information, vocabulary, and concepts. The "reasoning" items mea- sure the child's concept formation ability by employing abstract line drawings. Flanagan's pur- pose in developing the TOGA was "to provide a relatively fair measure of intelligence for all individuals, even those who have had atypical opportunities to learn" (1960, p. 6). 3 Flanagan's test was administered to all children in an elementary school, disguised as a test designed to predict academic "blooming" or intellectual gain. Within each of the six grades in the school were three classrooms, one each of children performing at above average, average, and below average levels of scholastic achievement. In each of the 18 classes an average of 20% of the children were assigned to the experimental condition. The names of these children were given to each teacher who was told that their scores on the "test for intellectual blooming" indicated that they would show unusual intellectual gains during the academic year. Actually, the children had been assigned to the experimental condition by means of a table of random numbers. The exper- imental treatment for these children, then, consisted of nothing more than being identified to their teachers as children who would show unusual intellectual gains.
The study sought to determine the relationship between parental incarceration and behavioral and family characteristics among children in a day hospital.
Chi square analysis and t tests were used to compare preadmission characteristics and teachers' behavioral ratings of a group of 16 children in a day hospital setting who had experienced the incarceration of one or both parents and a group of 21 children in that setting who had no history of parental incarceration.
Children in the parental incarceration group were significantly more likely to have experienced parental substance abuse than those whose parents had not been incarcerated. A history of child abuse or maltreatment appeared to be more likely among the parental incarceration group. Boys whose fathers had been incarcerated received higher teacher ratings of delinquent and aggressive behavior. Paternal incarceration among girls was associated with a significant increase in attention problems.
A history of parental incarceration may be quite common in some mental health samples of children. It appears to be associated with severe family dysfunction and behavioral disorders.
Interpersonal expectancy effects refer to the phenomena whereby one person's expectation for another person's behavior comes to serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The author examines the history and diversity of this area of inquiry, showing that the expectations of psychological researchers, classroom teachers, judges in the courtroom, business executives, and health care providers can unintentionally affect the responses of their research participants, pupils, jurors, employees, and patients. Using meta-analytic procedures, the author examines (a) moderator variables associated with the magnitude of interpersonal expectancy effects and (b) mediator variables implicated in the communication of interpersonal expectations. The author considers the social importance of the magnitudes of the obtained effects and points out research still needed to clarify issues in the mediation of these effects.
Data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being show that approximately 1 in 8 (12.5%) children who are subjects of reports of maltreatment investigated by child welfare services (CWS) agencies have parents who were recently arrested. Compared with other children who come to the attention of CWS agencies, those with arrested parents are younger, disproportionately African American, and significantly more likely tp be in out-of-home care. Approximately 2 in 5 children age 2 and older with arrested parents had a clinically significant emotional or behavioral problem, yet only 1 in 10 received mental health care. Although parent characteristics varied by race, rates of substance abuse, serious mental illness, domestic violence, and problems meeting basic needs were higher among arrested parents than among other parents.
Background:
Prisoners' children appear to suffer profound psychosocial difficulties during their parents' imprisonment. However, no previous study has examined later-life outcomes for prisoners' children compared to children separated from parents for other reasons. We hypothesise that parental imprisonment predicts boys' antisocial and delinquent behaviour partly because of the trauma of separation, partly because parental imprisonment is a marker for parental criminality, and partly because of childhood risks associated with parental imprisonment.
Method:
This study uses prospective longitudinal data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD). The CSDD includes data on 411 Inner London males and their parents. We compare boys separated by parental imprisonment during their first 10 years of life with four control groups: boys who did not experience separation, boys separated by hospital or death, boys separated for other reasons (usually disharmony), and boys whose parents were only imprisoned before their birth. Individual, parenting, and family risk factors for delinquency were measured when boys were aged 8-11. Eleven antisocial and delinquent outcomes were assessed between ages 14 and 40.
Results:
Separation because of parental imprisonment predicted all antisocial-delinquent outcomes compared to the four control conditions. Separation caused by parental imprisonment was also strongly associated with many other childhood risk factors for delinquency. After controlling for parental convictions and other childhood risk factors, separation caused by parental imprisonment still predicted several antisocial-delinquent outcomes, even up to age 32, compared with other types of separation.
Conclusions:
Prisoners' children are a highly vulnerable group with multiple risk factors for adverse outcomes. Parental imprisonment appears to affect children over and above separation experiences and associated risks. Further research on possible moderating and mediating factors such as stigma, reduction in family income and reduced quality of care is required to identify the mechanisms by which parental imprisonment affects children.
Researchers have estimated that 63 percent of incarcerated women have one or more minor children and most reported living with their children prior to incarceration (Mumola, 2000). Unfortunately, children of incarcerated parents have been a relatively invisible population in the research on the collateral consequences of incarceration. The goal of the current study was to examine the long-term effect of maternal incarceration on adult offspring involvement in the criminal justice system using data from the mother child sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Based on existing research, it was hypothesized that the adult offspring of incarcerated mothers would be more likely to have been convicted of a crime or to be sentenced to probation. The effect of maternal incarceration on correlates of criminal behavior in adolescence and early adulthood (e.g., negative peer influences, positive home environment) was also modeled to assess possible indirect effects. The results highlighted the direct effect of incarceration on adult offspring involvement in the criminal justice system, but parental incarceration had little association with correlates of criminal behavior.
Saturday morning at the jail: Implications of incarceration for families and children Pygmalion, Galatea, and the Golem: Investigations of biased and unbiased teachers The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design
- J A Arditti
- J Lambert-Shute
- K Joest
- E Babad
- J Inbar
- R Rosenthal
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Incarcerated parents and their children: Conceptual, methodological, and policy issues
- V L Gadsden
- C L Jacobs
Gadsden, V. L., & Jacobs, C. L. (2007). Incarcerated parents and their children: Conceptual, methodological, and policy issues. Boston, MA: Roundtable Discussion Symposium at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.
Children's family environments and intellectual outcomes during maternal incarceration Youth is enmeshed in a highly dysfunctional family system " : Exploring the relationship among dysfunctional families, parental incarceration, and juvenile court decision making
- J Poehlmann
Poehlmann, J. (2005). Children's family environments and intellectual outcomes during maternal incarceration. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 1275−1285. Rodriguez, N., Smith, H., & Zatz, M. S. (2009). " Youth is enmeshed in a highly dysfunctional family system " : Exploring the relationship among dysfunctional families, parental incarceration, and juvenile court decision making. Criminology, 47, 177−208.
The effects of maternal incarceration on adolescent children Facts for Features and Special Editions: Teacher Appreciation Week The Black family and mass incarceration. The ANNALS of the
- A D Trice
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- B Western
- C Wildeman
Trice, A. D., & Brewster, J. (2004). The effects of maternal incarceration on adolescent children. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 19, 27−35. U.S. Census (2004). Facts for Features and Special Editions: Teacher Appreciation Week. Retrieved September 18, 2009 from http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/ releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/001737.html Western, B., & Wildeman, C. (2009). The Black family and mass incarceration. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 621, 221−242.
In search of the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy The two sexes: Growing up apart, coming together
- S J Madon
- L Jussim
- J Eccles
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The impact of exposure to parental criminal activity, arrest, and sentencing on children's academic competence and externalizing behavior
- D H Dallaire
- L Wilson
Student-teachers' expectations of the competency of children with incarcerated mothers: A pilot study
- D H Dallaire