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Parental Incarceration and Young Children’s Development: Pathways to Resilience

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Parent-Child Separation

Part of the book series: National Symposium on Family Issues ((NSFI,volume 1))

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Abstract

Although parental incarceration is an adverse childhood experience, the developmental pathways of children with incarcerated parents are heterogeneous. Some children with incarcerated parents are exposed to incarceration-specific risks such as witnessing the parent’s arrest, which can lead to dysregulated stress responses and short- and long-term developmental challenges, especially when children already experience behavioral stress symptoms or anxiety. Some children with incarcerated parents experience supportive home environments, secure attachments to their caregivers, and positive visit experiences with their incarcerated parents, which can facilitate resilience processes. Requiring law enforcement personnel to use child-sensitive protocols when arresting parents can help prevent trauma in children. Offering parenting programs that are trauma-informed within corrections facilities can be particularly helpful for the incarcerated parent and families. In spite of numerous risk factors for young children with incarcerated parents, there are pathways to resilience.

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  1. University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Julie Poehlmann-Tynan

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  1. Population Research Institute, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Jennifer E. Glick

  2. Department of Sociology, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Valarie King

  3. Social Science Research Institute, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Susan M. McHale

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Poehlmann-Tynan, J. (2022). Parental Incarceration and Young Children’s Development: Pathways to Resilience. In: Glick, J.E., King, V., McHale, S.M. (eds) Parent-Child Separation. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87759-0_4

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