Losing a Family Member to Incarceration: Grief and Resilience

Abstract

Mass incarceration affects many families, creating an ambiguous loss. Although living, the incarcerated person is removed from daily life with consequences for relationships and meeting material needs. This study validated that family members experience grief, even surpassing clinical thresholds, when a loved one is incarcerated. With a cross-sectional, correlational design, we examined how grief, stigma, and social support impact resilience. Grief and self-stigma both predicted a decrease in resilience, while social support predicted an increase, however, we found no evidence for moderation of the relationship between grief and resilience across levels of self-stigma and social support. Implications for practice are provided.

Keywords:

• Incarceration
• ambiguous loss
• complicated grief
• resilience
• stigma
• social support

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kelly M. King

Kelly M. King, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Counselor Education at North Carolina Central University and a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate. King’s research agenda includes projects on grief and loss related to incarceration, counselor broaching skills, and cultural immersion.

Heather Delgado

Heather Delgado, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Counselor Education at Auburn University. Delgado has researched topics related to counselor identity development, authenticity in counseling trainees, grief counseling, and imposter syndrome in academia.