What is it about?
More than 5 million children have experienced a coresident parent leaving to go to jail or prison, and children with incarcerated parents are at risk for a number of problems as they grow older. In this study, we looked at children (age 2-6) with incarcerated fathers. We rated children's attachment behaviors at home and developed a new observational measure (the Jail-Prison Observation Checklist) to rate children's attachment behaviors and emotions during visits with jailed fathers.
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Why is it important?
The young children of jailed fathers were at risk for having insecure attachments to their caregivers, similar to other studies with clinical samples. We also found that non-contact barrier (Plexiglas) visits were sometimes stressful for children, more so than in-person contact or video visits. We also found that children's caregivers played an important role during these visits, often helping children cope and find ways of communicating with the jailed parent. Sadly, 27% of children witnessed the father's crime and 22% of children witnessed the father's arrest. Children who witnessed the parent's arrest or crime and experienced distress about it were more likely to have insecure attachments to their caregivers.
Perspectives
Most children who witnessed their father's arrest exhibited extreme distress about it according to the children's caregivers. In many of the cases, witnessing the parent's arrest was traumatic for the children. This does not have to be the case, as there are protocols for law enforcement professionals to use to protect children when parents are arrested.
Prof Julie Poehlmann-Tynan
University of Wisconsin Madison
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Attachment in young children with incarcerated fathers, Development and Psychopathology, April 2017, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0954579417000062.
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