Parental Incarceration

When a parent is incarcerated what immediate changes might a child experience in their daily life?

• having a new caregiver

• finacial strain

• maybe school change

• emotional stress from being moved from family

What are the immediate disruptions?

• parent child seperation

• changes in caregivers or livng arrangements

• genreal household instability

• financial strain

• emotional stress and uncertainty

• stigmaizatin

Core Outcome Areas: Behavioral

• increased agression and beahvioral problems

• higher likelihood of deliquncy

• increased risk of crimminal involvement

• social marginalization

  • stigma (pushed away from others like freinship, feeling isolated, not always intetlational but as a coping mechanism)

• externalizing beahviors

• experience difficulty with emotional regulation

Core Outcome Areas: Health

• increased physical health problems

• higher rates of chronic condtions

• greater mental health issues (anxiety, depression)

• epxosure to cumulative stress

• worse overall well-being

Core Outcome Areas: Educational

• lower academic performance

• disruptions in schooling

• increased school disciplinary issues

• higher dropout risk

• lower long-term attainment

Core Outcome Areas: Economic

• lower employment in early adulthood

• increased welfare reliance

• greater eocnomic instability

• intergenetaional transmission of diadvatage

• long term inequlaity effects

What are the machanisms?

Family Disruption and Attatchment

Economic strain

Stigma and Social Marginalizztion

Stress, Tramua, and Emotional Regulation

Compounding Diasvatage

The big picture of the lecture

Wileman Main Points

• argues that mass incarceration bad effect on family stability

• high amount of incarceration

• economic issues

• relationship instablity

• reduced father involvement

• broader social ineqaulity

Dobbie Main Points

• parental incarceration increases teen crime

• effects strongest among disadvanated children

• singifant increases in teen pregancy

• decreases in early employment

• no major effect on high school graduation

• quasi-experimental design: you have group A and B. A control group, more medical study

• A: kinds with incarceated parents and B: no incarcearted parents

• increases deliqunecy

Jackson Main Points

• research points to parent incarceation as a social determinant of health

• living in a household with incarcerated parents is theorized to harm health and wellbeing of children

  • social stressor to children as well

• data: 3 surveys sample of children 3-17

• assessed: health difficulties, chronic physical condtions, developmental disorders, and mental health

• results:

  • chronic physical conditons most common

  • next health disparites

    • then mental health

• conclusion/takeaway: children with incarcerated parents more vulunable to poor health outcomes