Abstract
The presented article reviews a research study on the lived experience of having a parent or parental figure incarcerated during one’s adolescence. The research study was conducted to fill a gap in the literature about the adolescent experience of this phenomenon. This qualitative research study used transcendental phenomenology to access the experience of six urban residing African-American participants through 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews. The study used purposive sampling in which participants self-selected to participate in the study. The study yielded findings in five major areas: developmental impact of parental incarceration, emotional impact of parental incarceration, social impact of parental incarceration, spiritual impact of parental incarceration, and levels of adaptation. This article focuses specifically on one of the findings, the emotional experience of parental incarceration. Analogous to Kubler-Ross’s research on the stages of grief, this study found that the participants experienced a distinct set of emotions connected to the phenomenon of parental incarceration. By understanding this distinct set of emotions, child welfare providers as well as social service providers will have a better insight into their patients’ emotional experiences and how these influence behaviors. More research is needed on the adolescent experience of parental incarceration before this phenomenon is fully understood.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, J. P., & Hauser, S. T. (1996). Autonomy and relatedness in adolescent family interaction as predictors of young adult's state of mind regarding attachment. Development and Psychopathology, 8(4), 793–809.
Allen, J. P., & Land, D. (1999). Attachment in adolescence. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 319–335). New York: The Guilford Press.
Arditti, J. A. (2012). The effects of incarceration on families and children. In Parental incarceration and the family: Psychological and social effects of imprisonment on children, parents, and caregivers (pp. 95–139). New York: New York University Press.
Blos, P. (1962). On adolescence: A psychoanalytic interpretation. New York: The Free Press.
Blos, P. (1979a). The initial stage of male adolescence. In The adolescent passage: Developmental issues (pp. 117–140). New York: International Universities Press, Inc.
Blos, P. (1979b). The second individuation process of adolescence. In The adolescent passage: Developmental issues (pp. 141–170). New York: International Universities Press, Inc..
Boss, P. (2007). Ambiguous loss theory: Challenges for scholars and practitioners. Family Relations, 56, 105–111.
Boudin, K., & Zeller-Berkman, S. (2010). Children of promise. In Y. R. Harris, J. A. Graham, & G. J. O. Carpenter (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents: Theoretical, developmental, and clinical issues (pp. 73–101). New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Braman, D., & Wood, J. (2003). From one generation to the next: How criminal solutions are reshaping family life in urban America. In J. Travis & M. Waul (Eds.), Prisoners once removed: The impact of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities (pp. 157–188). Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.
Bright, C., & Chong, S. L. (2016). A shared sentence: The devastating toll of parental incarceration on kids, families, and communities. (KIDS COUNT). Baltimore: The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Brooks, M., Gaynes, E., Krupat, T., & Lemaster-Schipani, D. (2013). Stronger together: Volume I: Experiences of children of incarcerated parents. New York: The Osborne Association.
Carson, E. A. (2015). Prisoners in 2014. (No. NCJ 248955). U.S. Department of Justice: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Chicago Police Department. (2014). CLEARmaps: Citizen law enforcement analysis and reporting. Retrieved from http://gis.chicagopolice.org/CLEARMap_crime_sums/startPage.htm
Crayton, A., Ressler, L., Mukamal, D. A., Jannetta, J., & Warwick, K. (2010). Partnering with jails to improve reentry: A guidebook for community-based organizations. Washington D.C: The Urban Institute.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. London: Sage Publications.
Dallaire, D. H., & Aaron, L. (2010). Middle childhood: Family, school, and peer contexts for children affected by parental incarceration. In J. M. Eddy & J. Poehlmann (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents: A handbook for researchers and practitioners (pp. 101–120). Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.
Fuligni, A. J., & Eccles, J. S. (1993). Perceived parent-child relationships and early adolescents' orientation towards peers. Developmental Psychology, 29(4), 622–632.
Gilmore, K. J., & Meersand, P. (2014). Early and mid-adolescence: The importance of the body, sexuality, and individuation, the role of action, and the special problems of the teen years. In Normal child and adolescent development: A psychodynamic primer (pp. 203–248). Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Glaze, L. E., & Maruschak, L. M. (2008). Parents in person and their minor children. (No. NCJ 182335). Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.
Hairston, C. F. (2003). Prisoners and their families: Parenting issues during incarceration. In J. Travis & M. Waul (Eds.), Prisoners once removed: The impact of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities (pp. 259–282). Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.
Hairston, C. F. (2007). Focus on children with incarcerated parents: An overview of the research literature. Canada: Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Huebner, B. M., & Gustafson, R. (2007). The effect of maternal incarceration on adult offspring involvement in the criminal justice system. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35(3), 283–296.
Johnston, D. (1995). Effects of parental incarceration. In K. Gabel & D. Johnston (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents (pp. 59–88). New York: Lexington Books.
Kaplan, E. H. (1991). Adolescents, age 15 to 18: A psychoanalytic developmental view. In S. I. Greenspan & G. H. Pollock (Eds.), The course of life volume four adolescence (pp. 201–233). Madison: International Universities Press, Inc..
Kautz, S. V. (2017a). Adolescent adaptation to parental incarceration. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 34(6), 557–572. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-017-0493-5.
Kautz, S. V. (2017b). Making sense: The untold stories of parental incarceration. (Doctorate. Chicago: Institute for Clinical Social Work.
Kinner, S. A., Alati, R., Najman, J. M., & Williams, G. M. (2007). Do parental arrest and imprisonment lead to child behavior problems and substance use? A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(11), 1148–1156.
Lidz, T. (1983). Chapter 10: Adolescence. In The person: His and her development throughout the life cycle (pp. 306–375). New York: Basic Books, Inc..
McElhaney, K. B., Allen, J. P., Stephenson, J. C., & Hare, A. L. (2009). Attachment and autonomy during adolescence. In R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology volume I: Individual bases of adolescent development (3rd ed., pp. 358–403). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. London: Sage Publications.
Murray, J. (2010). Longitudinal research on the effects of parental incarceration on children. In J. M. Eddy & J. Poehlmann (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents: A handbook for researchers and practitioners (pp. 55–74). Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.
Murray, J., & Farrington, D. P. (2008). Parental imprisonment: Long lasting effects on boys' internalizing problems through the life course. Development and Psychopathology, 20(1), 273–290.
Murray, J., & Murray, L. (2010). Parental incarceration, attachment, and child psychopathology. Attachment and Human Development, 12(4), 289–309.
Naudeau, S. (2010). Children of incarcerated parents: Developmental trajectories among school-age children. In Y. R. Harris, J. A. Graham, & G. J. O. Carpenter (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents: Theoretical, developmental, and clinical issues (pp. 47–72). New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Nesmith, A., & Ruhland, E. (2008). Children of incarcerated parents: Challenges and resiliency, in their own words. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(10), 1119–1130.
Nesmith, A., & Ruhland, E. (2011). Caregivers of children with incarcerated parents. The Open Family Studies Journal, 4(Suppl 2:M4), 105–116.
Parke, R. D., & Clarke-Stewart, K. A. (2003). The effects of parental incarceration on children: Perspectives, promises, and polices. In J. Travis & M. Waul (Eds.), Prisoners once removed: The impact of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities (pp. 189–232). Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1989). Phenomenological research methods. In R. S. Valle & S. Halling (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological perspectives in psychology: Exploring the breadth of human experience (pp. 41–60). New York: Plenum Press.
Reid, J. B., & Eddy, J. M. (2002). Developmental effects of parental incarceration on adolescents (over age 11). "From Prison to Home" Conference, Virginia. 15–17.
Shlafer, R. J., & Poehlmann, J. (2010). Adolescence in the context of parental incarceration: Family, school, and community factors. In J. M. Eddy & J. Poehlmann (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents: A handbook for researchers and practitioners (pp. 121–140). Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.
Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method, and research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Todis, B., Bullis, M., Waintrup, M., Schultz, R., & D'Ambrosio, R. (2001). Overcoming the odds: Qualitative examination of resilience among formerly incarcerated adolescents. Exceptional Children, 68(1), 119–139.
Travis, J., & Waul, M. (2003). Prisoners once removed: The children and families of prisoners. In J. Travis & M. Waul (Eds.), Prisoners once removed: The impact of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities (pp. 1–29). Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press.
Werner, E. E. (1993). Risk, resilience, and recovery: Perspectives from the Kauai longitudinal study. Development and Psychopathology, 5(4), 503–515.
Werner, E. E. (2000). Protective factors and individual resilience. In J. P. Shonkoff & S. J. Meisels (Eds.), Handbook of early childhood intervention (2nd ed., pp. 115–132). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Woolfolk, A., & Perry, N. E. (2012). Social and emotional development in adolescence. In Child and adolescent development (pp. 526–573). Boston: Pearson.
Acknowledgements
This study did not receive any funding from grants or patrons. This study was self-funded since it was part of a doctoral program.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Disclosure of Interest
There is no conflict of interest since the first author is the sole author. The author is an independent researcher.
Ethical Standards and Informed Consent
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kautz, S.V. The Emotional Experience of Parental Incarceration from the African-American Adolescent Perspective. Journ Child Adol Trauma 12, 187–199 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-018-0232-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-018-0232-x