Adolescent Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Developmental Perspective (From Prisoners Once Removed: The Impact of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities, P 233-258, 2003, Jeremy Travis and Michelle Waul, eds. -- See NCJ-205850)

• NCJ Number: 205857
• Author(s): J. Mark Eddy; John B. Reid
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 29 pages
• Sale Source: Urban Institute Press
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This chapter reviews the published research literature on the adolescent children of incarcerated parents, with attention to adolescent conduct problems, links between adolescent conduct problems and parent criminality and incarceration, a developmental model of antisocial behavior, and effective interventions for the adolescent children of incarcerated parents.

Abstract

Adolescent conduct problems include persistent and pervasive disobedience, aggression, temper tantrums, stealing, and violence. At highest risk for adult criminality are those youth who first begin to exhibit persistent and pervasive conduct problems during their grade-school years. Incarcerated parents have reported in cross-sectional surveys that 5 to 30 percent of their adolescent children were arrested at least once. In contrast, nationally representative surveys of youth found that 10-12 percent of U.S. youth reported being arrested at least once by age 14-16. Thus, the adolescent children of incarcerated parents are from one-half to three times as likely to be arrested as their peers. Although no published studies have directly examined the relationship between parental incarceration and adolescent conduct problems, conclusions can be drawn from research on outcomes for youth following changes or transitions in parental figures. Parental incarceration is clearly a significant change and transition for an adolescent. This area of research suggests that if parental incarceration decreases the quality of positive parenting behaviors, one outcome may be an initiation or exacerbation of adolescent conduct problems. Based on research findings similar to those that address parental transitions, this chapter hypothesizes that contextual factors are most important in the life of an adolescent to the extent that they directly impact relationships the adolescent has with his/her parents, siblings, peers, teachers, and the other adult mentors in his/her life. Thus, contextual factors can be and often are successfully negotiated by skilled parents and other involved adults who help children develop positive behaviors and direction despite the difficult aspects of their environment. In discussing effective interventions for the adolescent children of incarcerated parents, this chapter profiles nurse home visitation, parent management training, multisystemic treatment, multidimensional-treatment foster care, and a science-based preventive intervention package. The chapter proposes an integrated prevention effort under which multiple service systems coordinate their efforts to deliver comprehensive programs that teach positive parenting skills to incarcerated parents and caregivers of all types. The agencies and organizations that should be involved are corrections departments, child welfare departments, youth authorities, and youth-serving and family-serving nonprofit organizations. 86 references