Young Children of Jailed Parents

描述(申请人提供)：美国被监禁的人比世界上任何国家都多，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可能产生负面后果，包括药物滥用、外在问题、认知障碍、学业失败、逃学、犯罪活动和持续的内化问题。经历父亲监禁的儿童比经历母亲监禁的儿童多得多；然而，被监禁母亲的孩子更有可能经历风险因素和负面后果。尽管关于被关押在州或联邦惩教机构的父母的子女的文献越来越多，但我们对被监禁在当地监狱的父母的年幼子女知之甚少；事实上，之前没有任何研究记录被监禁父母的年幼子女目前的发育功能。此外，尽管父母监禁期间的亲子探视似乎是儿童福祉的一个关键因素，但还没有研究试图对儿童探视被监禁父母的质量进行评级。本研究将首次对探视情况进行评级，这在为监狱儿童探视的适当程序和制定帮助儿童为探视做好准备的干预措施的建议时至关重要。在拟议的研究中，我们致力于四个具体目标：(1)从被监禁的父母、他们的年幼子女和儿童照顾者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查的可行性，以及(B)从教师/日托提供者那里收集关于儿童行为问题的报告，(2)记录儿童对照顾者的依恋、行为问题、词汇、认知技能和一般风险(例如，贫穷、父母酗酒和吸毒，本研究的目的是：(1)在父母服刑期间(例如，目睹父母犯罪、逮捕、判刑)和监禁特有的风险(如目睹父母犯罪、逮捕、判刑)之间的关系；(3)审查家庭过程(与被监禁父母的探视质量、照料的稳定性、家庭环境质量、父母与照顾者的关系)作为对有被监禁父母的幼儿的潜在保护因素；及(4)研究与被监禁父母特征有关的儿童发展方面的潜在差异，包括性别、犯罪类型、先前逮捕的次数以及目前监禁的时间。通过实现这些目标，我们将为三个长期目标奠定基础：(1)为探望被监禁的父母的儿童制定建议，(2)制定干预措施，帮助儿童为探视做好准备，以及(3)当幼儿探望在监狱中的父母时，对他们实施发育筛查方案。

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.