2-006 - Incarcerated Mothers: Parenting and Children's Outcomes

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

A recent meta-analysis suggests that children of incarcerated mothers are at risk for developing severe behavioral problems (Murray, Farrington, & Sekol, 2012). Possible explanations for this negative effect refer to violence in the community and a problematic parenting situation. However, there are individual differences in parenting, children and family situations of incarcerated mothers that may play a role in why some children are resilient compared to their vulnerable counterparts.
This symposium discusses risk and protective factors in the family and parenting domain important for children’s development in samples of incarcerated mothers. Study 1 examines co-parenting between caregivers of the child and incarcerated mothers and found that co-parenting is compromised as a result of the incarceration. Study 2 highlights children’s exposure to violence in their environment and found that children’s emotion regulation served as a protective factor in the development of problem behavior even when exposed to high level of violence. Study 3 followed adults with an incarcerated mother in childhood or adolescence and demonstrated that most adults were not immune from negative outcomes, however, some adults saw themselves as resilient. Study 4 proposes a model to understand the variation in parenting and child outcomes of such high-risk samples. Considering mothers with a history of institutional care, higher self-control was found to serve as a protective factor in the association between family violence and parenting self-efficacy. The discussion will focus on directions for future research and prevention and intervention efforts for children and incarcerated mothers as well as adjacent high-risk populations.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chairs

• Sanne Hissel, Vu University Amsterdam

• Juliëtte Cassé, Vu University Amsterdam

Individual Presentations

• Coparenting in Families with Incarcerated Mothers - Presenting Author: Sanne Hissel, Vu University Amsterdam; Peter van der Laan, NSCR; Mirjam Oosterman, Vu University Amsterdam; Carlo Schuengel, Vu University Amsterdam

• Anger Coping as a Protective Factor for Children with Incarcerated Mothers Exposed to Violence - Presenting Author: Danielle Horvath Dallaire, The College of William and Mary; Janice L Zeman, College of William and Mary

• Beating the Odds? A Follow-up Study of Children of Incarcerated Mothers - Presenting Author: Jane Siegel, Rutgers University

• Resilience in Parenting Self-Efficacy of Mothers with a History of Institutionalization in Adolescence - Presenting Author: Juliëtte Cassé, Vu University Amsterdam; Catrin Finkenauer, VU University Amsterdam; Mirjam Oosterman, Vu University Amsterdam; Victor van der Geest, VU University Amsterdam; Carlo Schuengel, Vu University Amsterdam