The Emotional Experience of Parental Incarceration from the African-American Adolescent Perspective

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.

“Devastating…Having My Child on the Opposite Side of a Window”: Family Visiting Experiences and Considerations for Supporting Youths with Incarcerated Parents

“…Previous studies have broadly investigated the socioemotional and psychological effects of parental imprisonment on child and family health (Arditti, 2012a(Arditti, , 2012bDavis & Shlafer, 2017;Zeman & Dallaire, 2017). Children of incarcerated parents often cycle through numerous emotions and grief ranging from denial/disbelief, confusion, sadness, helplessness, anger, and ambivalence to acceptance (Kautz, 2019). These emotions and reactions depend upon the honesty and relationship between the incarcerated parent and caregiver (Kautz, 2019).…”

“…Children of incarcerated parents often cycle through numerous emotions and grief ranging from denial/disbelief, confusion, sadness, helplessness, anger, and ambivalence to acceptance (Kautz, 2019). These emotions and reactions depend upon the honesty and relationship between the incarcerated parent and caregiver (Kautz, 2019). Children who have visited their incarcerated parents are likely to experience mixed emotions, both positive (e.g., excitement, improved attitudes and behaviors around visits) and negative as a source of pain (e.g., depressive symptoms, emotional outbursts, fear/anxiety) (Martin & Wells, 2015).…”