School-Based Resources as Protective Factors from the Influence of Parental Incarceration on Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Although research on the deleterious effects of parental incarceration is extensive, few studies have examined factors that may attenuate these consequences. This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine the relationship between experiencing parental incarceration during childhood and depressive symptoms in young adulthood. Most importantly, it considers the degree to which this relationship is moderated by the availability of secondary-school-based resources. Results suggest that the consequences of parental incarceration on depressive symptoms are weaker for adolescents who attend schools that provide emotional counseling or nursing services on school premises or employ at least 50 percent of teachers with a master’s degree or higher. These findings suggest that the availability of school resources contributes to adolescents’ long-term resilience despite facing adverse circumstances.

Risk and Resilience Among Children with Incarcerated Parents: A Review and Critical Reframing

“…Finally, school-level services and characteristics are also important. For instance, Finkeldey & Dennison (2020) observed that the effects of parental incarceration during childhood on later depressive symptoms were less pronounced for children who received school-based counseling or nursing services and attended schools with more highly educated teachers. These findings underscore the role of formal services and programs in facilitating resilience among children with incarcerated parents.…”

Unequal Effects of Disruptive Events

“…Similarly, children least likely to experience maternal incarceration experience increased internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors and increased early juvenile delinquency (Turney & Wildeman, 2015). The effects of parental incarceration also vary by contextual-level factors, including the normativity of the event at the neighborhood level, with weaker associations between parental incarceration and the likelihood that children live in disadvantaged neighborhoods as adults in contexts where parental incarceration is more prevalent (Finkeldey & Dennison, 2020).…”