Parental imprisonment and psychological wellbeing of children

¶ … parental imprisonment on the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents?

Parental incarceration can have negative impacts on the wellbeing of the affected children or adolescents. More specifically, parental imprisonment can psychologically affect children and adolescents by causing depression, stress, and anxiety (Shehadeh et al., 2015). These outcomes may be further compounded by the stigma and shame children with imprisoned parents may often face (Murray & Farrington, 2008). Parental imprisonment may also lower the child\'s self-esteem. Other adverse outcomes may include remorse, truancy, aggression, hyperactivity, withdrawal, sleep difficulties, regressive behavior (Akesson et al., 2012).

If not checked, these negative psychological outcomes can result in negative behavioral outcomes such as delinquent behavior as well as substance abuse. Indeed, as criminal behavior is often predicted by family background, children whose parents have been incarcerated are more likely to engage in crime compared to their counterparts without incarcerated parents (Murray & Farrington, 2008). Further, children whose parents have been imprisoned may resort to substance abuse as a way of coping with psychological stress (Peniston, 2006). Also, psychological distress in children with an incarcerated parent may negatively affect academic performance (Murray & Farrington, 2008). This underscores the need for greater attention to the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents whose parents have been imprisoned.

Problem Statement

The relationship between parental imprisonment and child wellbeing is still an under-researched area. The dearth of research in this area is particularly true for the impact of parental imprisonment on the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents. Much of the research on this area is small-scale, making generalization quite difficult. More significantly, there is scarcity of methodologically-rigorous studies, especially studies involving control or comparison groups. Against this background, it is important to examine whether parental imprisonment may lead to negative psychological outcomes on children and adolescents. It is even more crucial to compare psychological outcomes between children whose parents have been incarcerated and those whose parents have not been incarcerated. Such a comparison is essential for confirming not only association, but also causation between parental imprisonment and child psychological wellbeing.

Purpose and Significance of the Study

The purpose of the proposed study is to understand how parental imprisonment affects the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents. This is an important research area given the increased rate of incarceration in the U.S. over the years (Akesson et al., 2012). Increased imprisonment means that more and more children and adolescents face the risk of negative psychological outcomes. Indeed, as of 1999, there were approximately 1.5 million children in the U.S. with an imprisoned parent, an increase of more than 30% compared to 1991 (Murray & Farrington, 2008). Today, this number could be much higher given the substantial growth of the prisoner population in the country in the last two decades or so.

For mental health practitioners, understanding how children and adolescents could be psychologically affected by parental imprisonment is important. Practitioners would be in a better position to help this increasingly growing population. The study will also have important implications for correctional institutions. Given the possible negative consequences of parental involvement on child and adolescent wellbeing, correctional institutions may shift to correctional methods that minimize the adverse impact on children and adolescents. As Murray & Farrington (2008) put it, failure to attend to the impacts of parental imprisonment on children at the policy level puts children at risk, possibly increasing their vulnerability to not only negative psychological outcomes, but also delinquent behavior.

Research Questions

The overarching research question is: What is the impact of parental imprisonment on the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents? The study will specifically seek to answer the following three questions:

1. Are children and adolescents whose parents are under incarceration more likely to experience depression compared to those whose parents are not incarcerated?

2. Are children and adolescents whose parents are under incarceration more likely to experience anxiety compared to those whose parents are not incarcerated?

3. Are children and adolescents whose parents are under incarceration more likely to experience anxiety compared to those whose parents are not incarcerated?

Research Design

The study seeks to examine the relationship between parental imprisonment and the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents. This means that the study will be quantitative in nature. Given the nature of the study, a quasi-experimental design is deemed as the most appropriate research design. The study aims to compare psychological wellbeing between children and adolescents whose parents have been incarcerated and children and adolescents whose parents have not been incarcerated. Dissimilar to the experimental design, the quasi-experimental design does not involve randomization (Johnson & Christensen, 2008), making it more appropriate for this study. Additionally, it is quite impossible for the researcher to manipulate the variables under study (Stangor, 2014). This further makes the quasi-experimental design suitable for the study, especially from a practical and ethical perspective.

Population and Sampling

Children and adolescents whose parents (one or both) have been incarcerated constitute the target population for this study. For purposes of clarity, children and adolescents in this case are minors aged 6-17. This age group is selected as most children in this category can reasonably read and speak. There will be no discrimination on the basis of sex, racial background, and socioeconomic status. Subjects for the study will be drawn from the state of Louisiana, particularly New Orleans County. The choice of Louisiana is informed by the fact that the state of Louisiana is considered the prison capital of the world. In particular, Louisiana incarcerates more of its people, per head, in comparison to any of its counterparts in the United States. The state has approximately 38,000 people in prison, a rate of 816 per 100,000 (Chang, 2012). This makes the state a suitable location for the study.

The recruitment of participants for the study will largely be aided by a local support agency that works in tandem with families experiencing problems associated with incarceration. Accessing children and adolescents whose parents have been incarcerated can be a daunting task. Making use of the local agency, therefore, will ease the process of locating and recruiting participants. Handouts, leaflets and posters with detailed information will be posted in and around the selected agency to familiarise the general population with the study. In addition, the agency will be allowed to recommend any particular participants it may deem fit. On the whole, given the nature of the target population, it may be quite impossible to recruit a representative sample or employ random sampling techniques. Non-random sampling may involve some bias, but it would be the most appropriate given the circumstances at hand. The researcher targets to recruit approximately 500 subjects (250 subjects with incarcerated parents and 250 subjects without incarcerated parents).

Instruments

The study will focus on two variables: parental imprisonment and psychological wellbeing. Parental imprisonment will be the independent variable, while psychological wellbeing will be the dependent variable. Information relating to the variables will be collected using questionnaires. Indeed, the use of questionnaires is common in quantitative research as they help the researcher to collect and analyze data from a large sample with much less effort, cost, and time. In quantitative research, the researcher may rely on standardized or researcher-designed questionnaires. Compared to researcher-designed questionnaires, standardized questionnaires are more appropriate as they have been scientifically tested for validity and reliability (Creswell, 2013). Therefore, for the three independent variables, standardized questionnaires will be used. More precisely, given the attributes of the target subjects, questionnaires with likert-type scales will be used. As likert-type scales present the respondent with a set of responses (close-ended) to choose from, they will be more appropriate for children and adolescents.

Though there are numerous standardized questionnaires that can be used to measure psychological outcomes in children, this study will use the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC). This tool is widely used to measure child depression and anxiety (Murray & Farrington, 2008), making it appropriate for this study. The tool measures a broad range of psychological variables, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and obsessive compulsive behavior. DISC tool measures not only psychological variables, but also demographic variables. Measuring demographic variables will also be important in this case, especially age, sex, racial background, grade level, and socioeconomic status.

Data Collection Strategies and Procedures

It will be important to adhere to the relevant ethical guidelines while conducting the research (Neuman, 2006). First, as the research will involve minors, it will be vital to obtain consent or approval from their parents or guardians to participate in the study. Second, participation in the study will be absolutely voluntary and based on informed consent. Participants will sign the consent form as an indication of their willingness to take part in the study. Additionally, participants will have the choice to withdraw from the study at any given point without any consequences. Finally, anonymity will be maintained as per the relevant data privacy guidelines.

Data will be collected with the help of the local support agency. After obtaining the necessary approval and consent, questionnaires will be administered to the selected subjects. Subjects will be allowed to choose their preferred mode of administration either through email or the conventional way (in-person delivery). In-person delivery will involve delivering the questionnaire to the subjects\' home or their convenient location so long as it is within the reach of the researcher. Subjects will also be allowed to fill the questionnaire at the agency\'s office. After filling, the subjects will return the questionnaire to the agency.

The collected data will be analyzed using SPSS version 17. The usefulness of this software in analyzing quantitative data is proven. The analysis will specifically focus on descriptive statistics and statistical tests. Descriptive statistics, especially frequencies and means, will be used to summarize the demographic characteristics of the participants (age, sex, grade level, race, income status, and so on). For statistical analyses, correlation and regression analyses will be performed to examine the nature and magnitude of the relationship between parental involvement and psychological wellbeing.

Generalizability

This study will draw its subjects from the state of Louisiana. Discretion should, therefore, be exercised while generalizing the findings to other parts of the country or elsewhere. This is particularly because incarceration rates and underlying factors may differ considerably from one context to another, thereby resulting in differences in psychological outcomes as a result of parental imprisonment.

Limitations

One of the major limitations of the proposed study arises from the fact that the required data will be collected from children and adolescents. Even more importantly, children and adolescents whose parents are undergoing incarceration will be included. For such participants, the psychological distress caused by the imprisonment of their parent may hinder their ability to convey complete and truthful responses. This means that the responses obtained may be exaggerated or not accurate, presenting a major threat to reliability.