Understanding Parental Incarceration and Its Effects on Children's Mental Health

Introduction

The current issue of mass incarceration in the United States has become a national crisis, and in many ways, a tragic norm within certain communities. According to the Bureau of Justice (Kaeble & Cowhig, 2018), in 2016 there were 6,613,500 people supervised in the United States adult correctional systems, or 2.7% of the total population of this country. Of this amount, 2,162,400 were incarcerated in jail or prison. This is a particularly alarming rate considering that this translates into one in every 37 adults being under supervision of the criminal justice system (NAACP, n.d.). In 2020, the number of people incarcerated in jail or prison rose to nearly 2.3 million, and approximately 7 million people were under correctional supervision (Sawyer & Wagner, 2020). In the last forty years, overall incarceration in the United States has increased astronomically (The Sentencing Project, n.d.). Although these statistics might not initially appear striking or disproportionate to the larger population of the United States, they are considerably more profound when compared to other industrialized nations.

Research has shown that poverty, lack of education, mental health, and trauma, especially for people of color and the BIPOC community, are strong predictors of incarceration for adults (Massoglia, 2008). In turn, criminal behavior by a parent and incarceration of a parent have been linked to a decline in mental health in children and their own subsequent criminality (Arditti, 2012a; Wildeman and Western, 2010). Wildeman and Western (2010) write that “a number of studies show an association between parental incarceration and the criminality of children” (p. 168). In many ways, there is evidence to argue for the existence of a parent to child prison pipeline. In terms of available statistics, one in 12 children in the United States have experienced parental incarceration in some capacity. When this ratio is assigned a number, it is over 5.7 million children under the age of 18 who have had at least one parent incarcerated at some point during their lifetime (Gotsch, 2018).

Conducting research studies proving direct causal effects of parental incarceration on children’s mental health are challenging. Arditti (2012b) writes how “it is unclear whether parental incarceration is the cause of family problems or a ‘risk marker’-that is, a symptom of other family problems and social conditions” (p. 98). Turney and Goodsell (2018) argue that research looking at direct effects of parental incarceration on children would be not particularly feasible and potentially unethical as well. However, studies have shown strong associations between parental incarceration and negative outcomes for children due to several micro and macro level factors (Arditti, 2012b). As such, there is a profound need for further research that can shed light on how to combat intergenerational incarceration and its effects on the mental health of parent and child. In many ways, the well-being and mental health of future generations is at stake.

The goal of this chapter is to further add to the literature on this topic to increase awareness and promote real change for the studied population. The absence of further research will continue to limit understanding and the extent to which mental health interventions can be designed to ameliorate the fallout associated with parental incarceration. However, the authors of this chapter are not interested in research without action; such an approach would ultimately be unjust to the population discussed. Therefore, the expectation is that this chapter will elucidate how negatively impactful incarceration is on the mental health of offenders and their children by funneling a discussion that begins at the macro level and concludes with a discussion of the micro level issues related to this topic. It is expected that this chapter will have a positive impact not only by bringing awareness to this issue and adding to the available body of literature, but also by providing real innovative solutions to the problem. In turn, these solutions can be disseminated throughout a number of professions to maximize their influence and efficacy for both theoretical and practical purposes.