Parenting Stress, Alliance, Child Contact, and Adjustment of Imprisoned Mothers and Fathers

Abstract

The present study contrasted the parenting stress and adjustment patterns of 100 mothers and 111 fathers incarcerated in one of 11 U.S. prisons. In comparison to inmate mothers, fathers had less contact with children, higher levels of parenting stress, and poorer alliance with caregivers. For inmate mothers, higher levels of contact with children—particularly letter writing—was associated with reduced parenting stress. For both mothers and fathers, there was an association between heightened parenting stress and increased levels of self-reported in-prison violent and aggressive behaviors. For women, increased parenting stress as well as lower levels of parenting alliance with caregivers was associated with heightened depressive symptoms. Results imply the importance of recognizing the impact of separation from children on parents in prison, and support the need for prison parenting interventions that directly address ways of coping with parenting stress.

KEYWORDS:

• adjustment
• mental health
• parenting
• prison
• stress
• visitation

This research was funded in part by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice (2004-RP-BX—0004: Risk Markers for Sexual Violence and Victimization). Points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policy of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Notes

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01. ∗∗∗p < .001.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01. ∗∗∗p < .001.

Note. PSI represents item average of subscale 5-point scale items (values 1–5), higher scores represent greater stress. PAM represents total summation of twenty 5-point scale items (values 1–5), higher scales represent greater parenting alliance. BDI represents summation of twenty-one 4-point scale items (values 0–3); higher scores represent greater depressive symptoms. PVI represents number of positive item endorsements on 17-item scale.

^a Comparisons of parenting stress and alliance are statistically controlled for effects of time already served at interview.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01. ∗∗∗p < .001.

^a For purposes of this table the 5-point Visitation scale is reduced to three categories.

Additional analyses examined patterns for parents of children under 18 years. As the patterns were the same, the current results with the larger sample and accordingly better statistical power are reported.