The Role of Policy in Shaping and Addressing the Consequences of Parental Incarceration for Child Development in the United States

Abstract

The U.S. has seen a more than five-fold increase in the number of children who experience the incarceration of a parent, such that now 7% of all U.S. children have been impacted. Parental incarceration has been linked to an array of consequences for children's development and well-being, spanning most developmental domains and all developmental stages. The overarching goal of this report is to briefly summarize the associations between parental incarceration and adverse outcomes across various aspects of child well-being and development (Section I), and to discuss the role of policy (Section II) in both contributing to mass parental incarceration in the U.S. (Section II.A.) and addressing the many impacts of parental incarceration in the U.S. on child well-being and development (Section II.B.). Throughout this report, we acknowledge impacts and additional considerations related to families of color, who are disproportionately affected by incarceration and associated policies.

Relationships between sleep duration and health among U.S. adults with a history of household incarceration during childhood.

“…Specifically, 9% of people born between 1999 and 2005 in the United States have had a parent or adult household member incarcerated during their childhood (Finlay et al, 2023). The trauma and loss associated with having a household member incarcerated (henceforth referred to as household incarceration ) during one’s childhood has consequences in both childhood and adulthood (Arditti, 2016; Mihalec-Adkins & Shlafer, 2022), including childhood obesity (Turney, 2014), risky health behaviors and problem behaviors (Emory, 2018; Haskins & McCauley, 2019; Heard-Garris et al, 2018; Le et al, 2019), psychological distress and substance use (Fleming & Nurius, 2019; Heard-Garris et al, 2018; Johnson et al, 2019; Khan et al, 2018), poor cognitive and academic outcomes (Finlay et al, 2023; Haskins & McCauley, 2019), poorer diet and less sleep (Gavrieli et al, 2015; Jackson & Vaughn, 2017), posttraumatic stress symptomatology and dysregulated stress responses (Bocknek et al, 2009; Roettger & Boardman, 2012), low expectations for one’s own future (Brumley et al, 2017), and poor overall health (Dallaire et al, 2018; Finlay et al, 2023; Haskins & McCauley, 2019; Hiolski et al, 2019). While the associations between experiencing household incarceration in childhood and later negative health and developmental outcomes are well-documented, the underlying mechanisms linking this childhood stressor and adult outcomes have been less well studied.…”