Poster #24 - Beyond Gender Lines: The Impact of Pre-Incarceration Parent-Child Attachment on the Delinquency of Prisoners' Children

• In Event: ASC Poster Session I

Abstract

Objectives
Many studies on the impact of an incarcerated parent's gender on children's delinquency have yielded mixed results. Currently, it remains unclear whether maternal incarceration has a greater, lesser, or null effect compared to paternal incarceration. This study examines whether pre-incarceration attachment to the incarcerated parent conditions this relationship.

Methods
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, logistic regression models were employed with an interaction term between the incarcerated parent's gender and pre-incarceration attachment (n = 347).

Results
The association between the incarcerated parent's gender and children’s involvement in property crimes, drug-related offenses, and violent behavior varied significantly by the level of attachment. Follow-up analyses showed that for children of incarcerated mothers, stronger attachment reduced property and drug-related offenses, while for children of incarcerated fathers, attachment had no significant effect on any delinquency.

Conclusions
The findings help resolve inconsistencies in the literature and complement longstanding theories by showing that maternal attachment plays a protective role against delinquency, but not in the case of delinquent fathers. The results underscore the importance of considering maternal attachment and the type of delinquency as key factors for risk prediction and targeted interventions within high-risk offending families.

Author

• Noy Assaraf, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel