Over the past several decades, the number of youth with parents in prison in the U.S. has increased substantially. Findings thus far indicate a vulnerable group of children. Using prospective longitudinal data gathered as part of the population-based Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) randomized controlled trial, adolescents who had an incarcerated parent during childhood are compared to those who did not across four key domains: family social advantage, parent health, the parenting strategies of families, and youth externalizing behavior and serious delinquency. Past parental incarceration was associated with lower family income, parental education, parental socioeconomic status, and parental health, and with higher levels of parental depression, inappropriate and inconsistent discipline, youth problem behaviors and serious delinquency. The effect sizes for significant associations were small to moderate. Keywords children; delinquency; discipline; externalizing behavior; incarcerated parents Since 1980, the number of imprisoned adults has quadrupled in the United States, increasing from 320,000 to nearly 1,420,000 (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004), a rate which far surpassed the estimated 23% general population growth in the United States (Perry & Mackun, 2001). Since a majority of incarcerated adults are parents (Glaze & Maruschak, 2009), the population of children with incarcerated parents has also grown (Travis & Waul, 2003). Between 1991 and, the number of minor children with a parent in a state or federal prison increased from about 1 million to over 1.7 million children (Glaze & Maruschak, 2009), or 2.3% of all the children in the United States. A similar number of children have parents who were released from prison or jails within the last few years (Mumola, 2002). Absent from either count are the over 5 million children whose parents have been involved in the corrections system in the more distant past but are not currently under supervision (Reed & Reed, 1997). Taken together, over 8 million minor children (roughly 11% of all children in the United States) may be affected by parental incarceration.Findings to date indicate a vulnerable group of children at risk for mental health problems, substance abuse, delinquency, school difficulties, and future criminal behavior (Johnston, 1995;Murray & Farrington, 2005;Myers, Smarsh, Amlund-Hagen, & Kennon, 1999). A recent meta-analysis of research on children with incarcerated parents found that children of inmates are twice as likely to exhibit antisocial behaviors as children without incarcerated parents, and that this increased risk is present even when controlling for other established risk factors for these problems (Murray, Farrington, Sekol, & Olsen, 2009 Using prospective, longitudinal, population-based data, this study compares adolescents who experienced parental incarceration during childhood versus those who did not. Specifically, it focuses on differences in three general areas of family risk (family social advantage, ...

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Over the past two decades, the number of children with parents in prison has increased substantially. Using structural equation modeling with prospective longitudinal data gathered as part of the ongoing Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) trial, the study tests a theoretical model which examines the direct and indirect relationships of four specific domains (parental incarceration, social advantage, parent mental and physical health, effective parenting) as they relate to youth antisocial behavior in the 5th, 8th, and 10th grades. Across all three grades, the relationship between parental incarceration and youth antisocial behaviors was mediated through a complex set of both direct and indirect pathways involving social advantage, parent health, and effective parenting. The total amount of variation explained by the models for youth externalizing ranged from .60 (in 5th grade) to .21 (in 10th grade). The total effects in all the refined models were small.

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The number of children of incarcerated parents in the U.S. has grown dramatically in recent years. These children appear to be at risk for various problems, and a number of family-focused preventive efforts have been attempted. The current study examines differences between incarcerated mothers, incarcerated fathers, and their families on factors that might be important to consider when creating the content and process of preventive intervention programs. Participants were 359 inmates (54% women; 41% minority) who were parents of children between the ages of 3 and 11 years and who parented their children prior to imprisonment. Mothers and fathers were similar on a number of dimensions including age, education-level, number and age of children, and family criminal history, but differences were observed on key variables relevant to outcomes for children and families, including employment history and income, substance use, mental health, trauma experiences and criminal history. Implications for prevention programs are discussed.

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