Changes in Self-Control for Children Impacted by Parental Incarceration who are Part of a Social Intervention Program

• In Event: The Impact of Parental Incarceration on Children's Offending and Incarceration

Abstract

Children impacted by parental incarceration (PIC) face many negative outcomes, including inter-generational crime. Gottfredson and Hirschi argue that self-control stabilizes by age 10. If this is the case, can a social intervention make a lasting impact on the life of an at-risk child?
Low self-control is defined as impulsiveness, inattentiveness, physical, fun seeking including danger and risk taking. There is an unexplored correlation between the definition of low self-control and the Hedonism value-identity proposed by Schwartz, defined as fun, pleasure, sensuous seeking, and enjoying life.
This study tracked children with a mean average age of 12.5 across a year of involvement with Big Brothers Big Sisters to see if social intervention alters self-control. Low self-control was measured using the a priori overlap between the hedonism value-identity. Results find that children impacted by PIC have a significantly higher conception of self as hedonistic, in other words, lower self-control. Over the course of mentoring non-impacted children experienced a steady increase in their level of self-control. Levels of control were not stable across the year of mentoring and were significantly impacted by the involvement of the adult mentor. This suggests that levels of control can be influenced by the social processes of mentoring.

Author

• R.C. Morris, Purdue University