The Relationships Between Episodes of Parental Incarceration and Students' Psycho-social and Educational Outcomes: An Analysis of Risk Factors

Abstract

Children with incarcerated parents face a disproportionate number of risk factors for becoming incarcerated (Bilchik, Seymour & Kreisher, 2001; Jucovy, 2003; Martin, 2001). The purpose of this study was to empirically analyze the relationship between episodes of parental incarceration and psycho-social and educational outcomes. This study aimed to find earlier indicators of incarceration risk, in order to provide points for intervention. Concepts from the differential association and social learning theories (criminology), attachment theory (psychology and sociology) and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (motivational psychology, used often in the field of education) were used as a guide in order to create a unique conceptual framework that directs the statistical models selected in this study. The data for the proposed study were drawn from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, which is a project of the Family Development Center at Cornell University. Specifically, the dataset from the Longitudinal Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) was used. ANOVAs and correlations were used preliminarily to explore relationships among variables. The impact that episodes of parental incarceration have on psycho-social variables and educational outcome variables was tested using sequential OLS regression models. The major research question of this study was, "Do psycho-social variables or educational outcomes differ based on episodes of parental incarceration?" The results suggest the only educational outcome that differs based on episodes of parental incarceration is externalized behavior problems. This difference is present in the full sample, but not in the matched sample, implying that this relationship is only significant when compared to low risk subjects, and is not significant when compared to equally at-risk subjects. The secondary question in this research study was, "How does the relationship between attachment to parents and psycho-social variables (post-traumatic stress or self esteem) differ based on episodes of parental incarceration?" The results of this analysis showed that problems with attachment to parents did become a more significant predictor of post- traumatic stress and self esteem when frequency of parental incarceration was added to the regression model. After analysis of the results, two themes are discussed: sample selection and its implication for socio-context of at-risk students and age implication and the role of elapsed time.