Young Children of Jailed Parents

描述（由申请人提供）：美国被监禁的人数比世界上任何一个国家都多，而且大多数被监禁的人都是未成年子女的父母。父母被监禁的孩子在青春期和成年期有产生负面结果的风险，包括药物滥用、外化问题、认知迟缓、学业失败、逃学、犯罪活动和持续的内化问题。经历过父亲禁锢的孩子比经历过母亲禁锢的孩子多得多；然而，被监禁母亲的孩子更有可能经历风险因素和负面结果。尽管关于父母被关押在州或联邦监狱的孩子的文献越来越多，但我们对父母被关押在地方监狱的孩子知之甚少；事实上，之前没有研究记录过父母被监禁的孩子目前的发展功能。此外，虽然父母监禁期间的亲子探视似乎是儿童福祉的关键因素，但没有研究试图对儿童与监禁父母的探视质量进行评估。本研究将首次对探视进行这种评级，这对于制定有关儿童探视监狱的适当程序的建议和制定帮助儿童为探视做好准备的干预措施至关重要。在拟议的研究中，我们有四个具体目标：(1)从被监禁的父母、他们的幼儿和儿童看护人那里收集短期纵向数据，包括(a)确定在监狱环境和儿童家中进行观察和筛选的可行性，以及(b)从教师/日托提供者那里收集儿童行为问题的报告，(2)记录儿童对看护人的依恋、行为问题、词汇、认知技能和一般风险（例如贫困）的经历；(3)检查家庭过程（与入狱父母的探视质量、照料稳定性、家庭环境质量、父母与照顾者的关系）作为父母入狱的幼儿的潜在保护因素；(4)研究与入狱父母特征相关的儿童发展的潜在差异，包括性别、犯罪类型、先前被捕次数和当前监禁时间。通过解决这些目标，我们将为3个长期目标奠定基础：(1)制定儿童探望被监禁父母的建议，(2)制定帮助儿童为探望做准备的干预措施，以及(3)在幼儿探望被监禁的父母时实施发育筛查协议。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The U.S. incarcerates more people than any country in the world, and most incarcerated individuals are parents of minor children. Children of incarcerated parents are at risk for developing negative outcomes in adolescence and adulthood, including substance abuse, externalizing problems, cognitive delays, school failure, truancy, criminal activity, and persistent internalizing problems. Many more children experience the incarceration of fathers than mothers; however, children of incarcerated mothers are more likely to experience risk factors and negative outcomes. Although there is an increasing literature on children of parents imprisoned in state or federal corrections facilities, we know little about young children of parents incarcerated in local jails; indeed, no prior studies have documented the current developmental functioning of young children of jailed parents. Moreover, although parent-child visits during parental incarceration appear to be a key factor for children's well-being, no studies have attempted to rate the quality of children's visits with incarcerated parents. Such ratings of visits, which will be conducted in the present study for the first time, are of critical importance when developing recommendations for appropriate procedures for children's visits at jails and for developing interventions that help prepare children for such visits. In the proposed research, we address 4 specific aims: (1) To collect short-term longitudinal data from jailed parents, their young children, and children's caregivers, including (a) determining the feasibility of conducting an observation and screening in the jail setting and in the child's home, and (b) collecting reports of child behavior problems from teachers/daycare providers, (2) To document children's attachment to caregivers, behavior problems, vocabulary, cognitive skills, and experience of general risks (e.g., poverty, parental alcohol and drug use, parental mental health problems) and incarceration-specific risks (e.g., witnessing parent's crime, arrest, sentencing) when a parent is in jail, (3) To examine family processes (quality of visits with the jailed parent, caregiving stability, home environment quality, parent-caregiver relationship) as potential protective factors for young children with jailed parents, and (4) To examine potential differences in children's development associated with jailed parent characteristics, including gender, type of offense, number of prior arrests, and length of the current incarceration. By addressing these aims, we will lay the groundwork for 3 long-term goals: (1) developing recommendations for children's visits with jailed parents, (2) developing interventions that help prepare children for visits, and (3) implementing developmental screening protocols with young children when they visit their parents in jail.