A Qualitative Analysis of Children whose Parents Are Incarcerated in the US

In the United States, a rapid rise in the incarceration rate, the large number of people convicted for drug-related offenses, and an increasing number of longer sentences means that more than one-half of prisoners are parents. While there has been research on the impact of parental incarceration on children, most of this research examines the period of the parent's incarceration and does not address how children experience parental incarceration across the course of their lives. This study, a qualitative analysis based on empirical evidence and informed by a developmental framework, examines the written narratives of 35 adults who reflect on how their parent's incarceration affected them. The study focuses on three findings. First, the impact of parental incarceration is not the same for all children and varies according to the particular historical period when the parent is incarcerated. Second, the gender of the incarcerated parent and the economic impact of incarceration on the family are important variables. Third, the re-entry period is more complicated than is often acknowledged.