Date of Conferral
2019
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Criminal Justice
Advisor
GREGORY KOEHLE
Abstract
For many American families, incarceration has become a way of life. Per the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, there are more than 2.7 million children who have a parent in prison and some may have one or both in county jail. There are psychological implications in terms of the child's well-being, behavioral, academic, and emotional outcomes, and family-level processes. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to describe the impact that a parent's incarceration has on a child even through adulthood. The research question examined how a parent's incarceration impacts the future of the child into adulthood. Data were collected for this study through interviews with 12 adults who had a parent who had been or; in many cases was still incarcerated. The findings indicated that there is a significant impact on children when a parent is incarcerated and that as a result, children may exhibit externalizing behaviors such as anger, aggression, and hostility towards others. The results of the study may inform social workers and others who serve this population.
Recommended Citation
Allen, Carolyn Eugenia, "The Impact of Parental Incarceration: Adults Reflect on their Juvenile Years" (2019). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 7782.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7782
