Child well-being when fathers return from prison

Yaros, Anna; Ramirez, Derek; Tueller, Stephen; McKay, Tasseli; Lindquist, Christine; Helburn, Amy; Feinberg, Rose Kelley; Bir, Anupa

doi:10.1080/10509674.2018.1441204

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…There is evidence to suggest that children's well-being remains impaired even after the father's release (Yaros et al, 2018) and extends into adulthood (e.g., Mears & Siennick, 2016). Although the evidence regarding negative implications of paternal incarceration on children's well-being are strong and other work has begun to identify family processes as mechanisms for these outcomes (e.g., Arditti & Savla, 2015;Besemer & Dennison, 2019), we are only beginning to understand how witnessing a parent's arrest may be a uniquely stressful experience for children.…”

Section: Paternal Incarcerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting under the skin: Physiological stress and witnessing paternal arrest in young children with incarcerated fathers

Muentner

Kapoor

Weymouth

et al. 2021

Developmental Psychobiology

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U.S. jails see nearly 11 million annual admissions, rates that disproportionately affect men of color-more than half of whom are fathers. An estimated 7% of U.S. children experience the incarceration of a parent, increasing their risk for poor developmental and health outcomes. Although stress processes are often suggested as an underlying mechanism linking paternal incarceration to child well-being, few studies have examined such links. To study how witnessing a father's arrest prior to incarceration in jail relates to children's stress processes, we collected data on 123 individuals from 41 families with young children whose father was in jail, including collecting hair from 41 children, and analyzed their cumulative stress hormones, cortisol, and cortisone.Results indicate that children had higher cumulative stress hormone concentrations when they witnessed their father's arrest. Moreover, there was evidence of a blunted stress reaction in children who witnessed the arrest and who also had high levels of ongoing behavioral stress symptoms, similar to findings in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder studies. Long-term exposure to stress can have deleterious effects on children's brain development, further increasing risk for developmental psychopathology.Findings have implications for criminal justice approaches that safeguard children during parental arrest.

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Section: Paternal Incarcerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting under the skin: Physiological stress and witnessing paternal arrest in young children with incarcerated fathers

Muentner

Kapoor

Weymouth

et al. 2021

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The use of causal inference strategies such as matching or regression discontinuity (e.g., based on police policy change) may further strengthen the ability to make causal statements in future studies. Future research should further examine issues related to incarceration and parent-child co-residence, which may both increase a child’s risk of witnessing arrest while also easing post-release adjustments (Yaros et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration

Metcalfe

Muentner

Reino

et al. 2022

Journ Child Adol Trauma

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Purpose One in fourteen children in the United States experiences the incarceration of a parent with whom they have lived. Although prior research has established that witnessing the arrest of a parent is a common occurrence for children of criminal justice-involved parents, child outcomes following such an event are understudied. Little is known about the long-term impacts of witnessing an arrest on children and the extent to which they may vary by child age. Methods Using longitudinal data from the Parent Child Study of mothers and fathers incarcerated in state prison, we examine the witnessing of parental arrest as an acute traumatic event and identify the extent to which this type of trauma predicts externalizing and internalizing symptoms for children during their parents’ incarceration and following release. Results Witnessing a parent’s arrest predicted greater internalizing behavior concerns while parents were incarcerated, with a greater magnitude of effect for children under eight years of age. Six months post-release of the parent, children younger than age eight who witnessed the arrest showed significantly higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors. No effect was found for children ages eight years or older. Conclusion Implications for future policies to reduce the likelihood of children witnessing parental arrests, as well as the potential benefit of screening for trauma when working with children with incarcerated parents, are discussed.

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“…Finally, life course and stress-proliferation perspectives each suggest that the consequences of criminal legal system contact will emerge around major life milestones (e.g., Mears and Siennick 2016). Reentry from prison is such a milestone not only for those returning home but also for their partners and children (Begun, Hodge, and Early 2017;Berg and Huebner 2011;Massoglia and Pridemore 2015;McKay et al 2019;Yaros et al 2018). Understanding how a lifetime of criminal legal system contact reverberates at this fraught and fragile moment in the individual and family life course is essential to grasping mass incarceration's complex, intergenerational effects.…”

Section: Life Course Perspectives On Criminal Legal System Contactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fatherhood, Behavioral Health, and Criminal Legal System Contact over the Life Course

McKay

Tadros

2022

J Health Soc Behav

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Life course theories suggest that fathers’ lifetime criminal legal system contact could contribute to poor parent–child outcomes via deterioration in couple relationship quality and fathers’ behavioral health. Using paired, longitudinal data from the Multi-site Family Study (N = 1,112 couples), the current study examines the influence of three dimensions of fathers’ life course legal system contact on individual and parent–child outcomes. In fitted models, accumulated system contact in adulthood predicts fathers’ later depressive symptoms and drug misuse, which in turn predict diminished father–child relationship quality (as reported by both co-parents). Fathers who were older at the time of their first arrest had poorer relationships with their children’s mothers and, in turn, poorer behavioral health and parent–child outcomes. Conditions of confinement during fathers’ most recent prison stay do not significantly predict later parent–child outcomes, net of the influence of age at first arrest and accumulated criminal legal system contact in adulthood.

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Child well-being when fathers return from prison

Cited by 16 publications

References 29 publications

Getting under the skin: Physiological stress and witnessing paternal arrest in young children with incarcerated fathers

Getting under the skin: Physiological stress and witnessing paternal arrest in young children with incarcerated fathers

Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration

Fatherhood, Behavioral Health, and Criminal Legal System Contact over the Life Course

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