Resilience processes in the lives of families impacted by Parental - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Resilience processes in the lives of families impacted by Parental Incarceration: Implications for intervention and policy Keynote Presentation for Griffith University Joyce A. Arditti, Ph.D. Virginia Tech October 19, 2017

Parental Incarceration as a “Risk” to Children Burgeoning literature has documented Parental Incarceration as a unique risk to children’s development In general risk factors are those features or characteristic that contribute to vulnerability, or maladaptive psychopathological outcomes Risks often co-occur: e.g. mental illness and drug use, and these characteristics are together overrepresented among incarcerated populations presenting a cumulative risk for maladjustment and reentry difficulties.

Child Effects Examples of these effects include: children’s antisocial behavior (Murray, Farrington, & Sekol, 2012); psychological and behavioral difficulties (Dallaire, Zeman, & Thrash, 2015; Midgely & Lo, 2013; Wakefield & Wildeman, 2014), traumatic symptomology (Arditti & Salva, 2013) health vulnerabilities (Lee, Fang, & Luo, 2013; Mitchell, McLanahan, Schneper, Garfinkel, Brooks-Gunn, & Notterman, 2017; Turney, 2014).

Resilience Research: The Next Wave? Fundamental applications of resilience frameworks include (Masten, 2007) : Descriptive research which identifies characteristics of children’s environments that matter Uncovering processes that account for correlates of resilience RCT’s that test prevention and intervention program’s aimed at promoting competence Multilevel analysis: examination of the ways in which resilience shaped by interactions across systemic levels

Ecological Contexts Risk and Protective Factors can be “multisystemic” in that they can occur within more than one ecological context (or systemic level). These levels are: Individual Interpersonal/Familial Interpersonal/Social Environmental/Macrosystem Risks and Assets may be proximal or distal and indirect—

Dynamic Systems Risk and protective factors operate dynamically in shaping human development, at each level of the ecology (i.e. micro to macro/proximal to distal), and in tandem, “transacting with the features of the individual…and the external world (Cicchetti, p.10).” Includes gene-environment interaction, social interactions, and coregulation among individuals in relationships, social networks, person-media interactions etc. (Masten, 2007).

Systemic Levels and Protective Factors Related to Parental Incarceration (Arditti, 2005)

A Family Perspective Resilience inherent to a family perspective (Arditti, 2012) which draws attention to how widespread incarceration impacts family life with particular emphasis on the experiences of nonincarcerated caregivers and their children. Parenting implicated in studies examining childhood resilience Involves the consideration of the context and proximal processes associated with parenting and caregiving in families with a parent in prison Variation in these processes a major source of heterogeneous effects Moves beyond documenting negative child outcomes and is concerned with the “how and why” of these effects

Resilience: Prevailing Over Adversity The term “resilience ” refers to “patterns of positive adaptation in the context of significant risk or adversity” (Masten & Powell, 2003 p. 4) Multidimensional-functioning and adaptive processes can differ across domains and over time Resilience represents two judgments about an individual 1. The first judgment is an inference that a person is doing “OK”. 2. The second is that there is or has been significant adversity A family perspective on parental incarceration extends these judgments from the individual to the family and suggests that even under extreme hardship and duress, adaptive processes and positive family outcomes are possible.

The Two Questions: What do We Know? Question 1: What does competence look like among children and families impacted by parental incarceration? (are the kids ok?) a. what processes promote positive youth outcomes? b. what key protective factors moderate the harms typically associated with parental incarceration? Question 2: What adversities do children experience as a result of parental incarceration? (is there significant adversity?)

Let’s start with Question 2: (We know a lot about Adversity)

The Context of Mass Incarceration in the US

Racial Disparity

Material Hardship Children in families most likely to experience incarceration often display behavior problems and developmental shortfalls that are broadly connected to disadvantaged environments and exposure to additional adverse events (Murphey & Cooper, 2015; Wakefield & Wildeman, 2014). Most prisoners in the US come from histories of disadvantage characterized by: low education, unemployment, neighborhood and early family life disadvantage, mental health challenges and substance abuse, and intergenerational criminality (Phillips, Erkanli, Keeler, Costello, & Angold, 2006; Uggen, Wakefield, & Western, 2005). These disadvantages extend to the children of the incarcerated who are at risk of experiencing homelessness and food insecurity (Wakefield & Wildeman, 2014) , housing instability (Cox & Wallace, 2013) , and other forms of disadvantage such as low educational achievement (Foster & Hagan, 2009; Haskins, 2014).

Youth Experience Material Hardship: Add Health Data

Parental Incarceration Intensifies Material Hardship Disadvantage is compounded by parental incarceration: Many parents (particularly fathers) were primary breadwinners prior to confinement 54% of fathers and 52% of mothers in state prison reported that they were the primary source of financial support for their children (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008) Lost child support funds are not easily recovered even if parents go into arrears during their incarceration (Brito, 2012). Confinement is associated with significant financial costs such as legal fees, fines, costs associated with maintaining contact, and the provision of financial support to the incarcerated person. These debts are significant and reproduce hardship among the most disadvantaged families (deVuono-powell et al., 2015; Harris, Evans, & Beckett, 2010). Nonincarcerated caregivers may experience financial shortfalls, unemployment (Arditti et al., 2003) , and other strains that come with economic hardship-particularly in conjunction with inadequate state safety net expenditures (Adams et al., 2016) . E.g. mothers who share children with recently incarcerated men have a significantly lower likelihood of asset ownership , compared to their counterparts, such as vehicle, bank account, and home ownership (Turney & Schneider, 2016).

Parental Incarceration and Children’s Exposure to Adversity Children with a parent in prison exposed to traumatic incarceration-related risks such as parental arrest, difficult prison visit experiences Children with a parent in prison also exposed to more ACE’s (adverse childhood experiences) ACE’s compromise development

Children of Incarcerated Parents and ACE’s

What About Question 1….? Ok, so we have established that children with an incarcerated parent experience adversity (Question 2)…. In order to make a judgement of resilience, we must consider evidence of children’s competence and family strengths….. (Question 1).

Evidence of Resilience among Children of the Incarcerated Sources: 1) “null” or heterogeneous effects 2) evidence of competence 3) adaptive family processes; mediating and moderating effects

Null and Heterogeneous Effects Recent analyses examining the impact of maternal incarceration have shown “null effects” Average effects on children with mothers’ who were most likely to incarcerated were “null ” (Turney & Wildeman, 2015) School achievement, drop out unaffected by mothers’ incarceration (Cho, 2009a & b) Majority of children aged 9-14 with incarcerated mothers (N=88) seemed “well adjusted” and avoided substance abuse and deviant behavior (Hanlon, Blatchley et al., 2005). Studies that move beyond “average effects” reveal variation in child outcomes depending on the context of incarceration or social location of children. Racial and gendered disparities among children with incarcerated fathers re: school readiness (Haskins, 2014); The least disadvantaged children most likely to be negatively affected by maternal incarceration (Turney & Wildeman, 2015) and paternal incarceration (Turney, 2017).

Evidence of Youth Competence Qualitative studies examining coping of youth with a parent in prison suggest competence via: Creative and resourceful coping strategies (Berman et. al., 2012; Nesmith & Ruhland, 2008). Most children “doing ok” or excelling at school displayed positive outlook and engaged in prosocial activities (Nesmith & Ruhland, 2008; Sands et al., 2009); Deidentification (distancing) and “strength through control” (Johnson & Easterling, 2014) ¼ of children experiencing parental incarceration (N=18) could be categorized as “thriving” or “adjusted” based on balance of life stressors, behavior problems, and competence measures At or above the mean on competence scores per the CBCL (Johnson, Arditti, & McGregor, 2017).