Examining Children’s Knowledge of Paternal Incarceration and Later Self-Esteem

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

An estimated 800,000 incarcerated individuals are parents of minor children, and ~1.7 million (2.3%) minor children have a parent who is incarcerated (Glaze & Maruschak, 2010). Paternal incarceration (PI) accounts for the majority (92%) of parental incarceration (Glaze & Parks, 2011; Glaze & Maruschak, 2010). Extant research has documented the deleterious effects of PI on later child functioning (Glifford, Kozecke & Golonka, 2019; Haskins, 2014; Swisher & Shaw-Smith, 2015). However, significant individual differences in child adjustment remain to be explained.
Age-appropriate knowledge of family challenges can mitigate adverse developmental outcomes by helping children understand and cope with their own distress and potential family disruptions (Parke & Clarke-Stewart, 2002). Caregivers may choose not to disclose information to their child about an incarcerated parent in a potentially misguided effort to minimize the trauma from separation or to avoid social stigma. However, evidence on family secrets generally (Brown-Smith, 1998), and on parental incarceration in particular (Bocknek, Sanderson & Britner, 2009; Chui & Yeung, 2016), suggests that withholding such information may result in further difficulties. These challenges may be especially pronounced in the area of self-esteem because children are prone to internalizing responsibility for parent behaviors they do not understand (Goodman & Pickens, 2001). Furthermore, a gendered pattern has been supported by research suggesting heightened salience of same-sex parental incarceration on child outcomes (Burgess-Proctor, Huebner, Durso, 2016; Foster & Hagan, 2014). For example, previous research suggests PI has a stronger effect on boys’ functioning in middle childhood (Wilderman, 2010; Haskins, 2015; Haskins 2014).
In a sample of 51 children (59.3% female; 33.3% Latinx, 29.6% multiracial, 27.8% Black/African American, 9.3% white/European) who experienced PI prior to age 8, we evaluated the relation between children’s knowledge of PI and later self-esteem at age 12 as moderated by child gender. Participants were drawn from a larger longitudinal study of development among 250 caregiver-child dyads. Of the 51 dyads with PI, 32 (59.3%) custodial caregivers stated they had shared the truth about the father’s carceral status with the child during in-person interviews at ages 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8, and 19 (40.7%) stated they had not done so (e.g., stating the father was working or had moved away). At ages 8 and 12, children reported on their self-esteem using the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC-C) assessment (M= 50.43, SD= 7.21). A moderation model evaluated the effect of PI knowledge on measures of child self-esteem as moderated by child gender while controlling for child race/ethnicity, SES, and prior self-esteem.
Results suggest that knowledge of PI during childhood significantly predicted increased levels of self-esteem at age 12 for boys, but not girls (see Figure 1). Additional research and replication are needed, but these results suggest that among children with PI, knowledge of their father’s incarceration can potentially ameliorate negative effects and positively impact self-esteem, especially for boys. Ultimately, this study supports the idea that associations between PI and children’s socioemotional functioning are nuanced and potentially modifiable, highlighting the importance of moving beyond deficit-based approaches to more strength-based frameworks.

Authors

• Gilberto Torres, University of California - Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Jessie Bridgewater, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tuppett M. Yates, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author