The Influence of Incarceration on Children at the Intersection of Parental Gender and Race/Ethnicity: A Focus on Child Living Arrangements

Abstract

Children of fathers are found to be more likely to live with their other parent during incarceration than are children of mothers in a state sample. Although patterns are similar for men across race and ethnicity, patterns differ among women: children of non-Hispanic White women are more likely to live with their other parent than are children of African American and Hispanic mothers. Among mothers, income levels explain racial and ethnic differences in the odds of living with the other parent during imprisonment. If race and ethnic disparities in income were reduced, disruption in child living arrangements during imprisonment may be minimized.

Examining the Relationship between Children’s Behavioral Outcomes and Life Events among Incarcerated Mothers

“…Familial influences in this regard remain pertinent factors when considering adolescent development. Children with limited monitoring engage in more delinquent behavior, and familial influence determines how successful the child or adolescent transitions into adulthood (Foster, 2011). Some research on reentry suggests that there is greater deviance among youth residing in single parent homes stemming from less time for parental involvement as a result of the mother's incarceration and subsequent release.…”

“…Incarceration alone serves as the context for maternal distress as many minority women are faced with the prospect of having their children live with either kinship care members, other relatives or in foster care whereas Caucasian mothers are more likely to leave their children with their fathers or in other care arrangements (Foster, 2011). Familial resources have been considered a significant and influential difference in relation to children, and for many minority women, their ability to effectively care for their children remains compromised.…”

“…Studies rely less on the life course perspective whereby the child and family experiences are considered as families are forced to cope with the disruption of a mother's arrest and subsequent incarceration. In fact, the indicators of maternal distress that women experience prior to incarceration such as poverty, low education, inadequate living arrangements for children, and living in violent neighborhoods can be seen as life events that can perpetuate the likelihood of children exhibiting increased negative outcomes including hostility and conflict (Foster, 2011). Researchers have addressed the need to examine "separation pain" in more detail as children respond to the absence of the ideal parent (mother) with increased disruptive behaviors as they "recycle" their sadness and pain into misdirected anger toward those in their environment.…”