Children's Family Environments and Intellectual Outcomes During Maternal Incarceration

Despite the dramatic increase in incarcerated mothers that has occurred in the past decades, there is a paucity of family research focusing on the children affected by maternal imprisonment. The present study investigated family environments and intellectual outcomes in 60 children between the ages of 2 and 7 years during their mothers' incarceration. Multiple methods were used to collect data from children, mothers, and children's nonmaternal caregivers. Results indicated that most children experienced multiple risks across contextual levels. Cumulative caregiver sociodemographic risks predicted children's cognitive abilities, although quality of the home and family environment mediated this relation. Results underscore the importance of children's family environments and highlight the need for increased monitoring, service delivery, and longitudinal research with children of incarcerated mothers and their families. Key Words: children, family, incarceration, intellectual, poverty, risk. The number of incarcerated mothers has increased dramatically in the past three decades (Harrison & Beck, 2005; Mumola, 2000). Estimates indicate that more than 1.3 million children in the United States have mothers who are in jail, prison, or on parole, and most affected children are less than 10 years old (Mumola). Although several studies have documented negative behaviors and emotional reactions, poor school performance, and stressful life events in older children following parental imprisonment (Hagen & Myers, 2003; Hale, 1988; Jorgensen, Hernandez, & Warren, 1986; Thompson & Harm, 1995), few studies have relied on direct assessment of children of incarcerated parents or their family environments (Gabel & Johnston, 1995). The present study investigated quality of the home and family environment provided to young children during maternal incarceration and its relation to children's intellectual outcomes. Although nearly 90% of children remain with their mothers when fathers go to prison, grandparents usually care for children when mothers are incarcerated (Johnson & Waldfogel, 2002; Snell, 1994). A burgeoning literature has documented risks to grandparents raising their grandchildren, including poverty, single parenting, health problems, and depression (e.g., Poehlmann, 2003). Little is known, however, about how caregiver risks relate to the quality of family environments provided for children or about children's outcomes. Transactional developmental theory (Sameroff & Fiese, 1990, 2000) and a growing body of research conducted with children and adolescents not affected by parental incarceration indicate that multiple environmental risks increase a child's likelihood of developing problematic outcomes (Burchinal, Roberts, Hooper, & Zeisel, 2000; Evans, 2003; Gerard & Buehler, 2004; Sameroff, Seifer, Baldwin, & Baldwin, 1993). In their comparison of various cumulative risk models in predicting children's cognitive development, Burchinal et al. recommend using a risk index approach (the sum of binary coded risks such as large household, single-parent household, caregiver with less than high school education) when assessing a large number of risks with a relatively small sample, such as that described here. Research with children not affected by parental incarceration has found that stimulating, safe, and responsive family environments foster children's cognitive and language development, including that of children at risk for developmental problems, whereas low-quality environments contribute to negative outcomes (e.g., Bradley et al., 1989; Bradley, Corwyn, Burchinal, McAdoo, & Garcia Coll, 2001; Bradley & Whiteside-Mansell, 1998; Burchinal, Campbell, Bryant, Wasik, & Ramey, 1997). Indeed, Linver, Brooks-Gunn, and Kohen (2002) found that quality of the parental home environment accounted for (or partially mediated) the relation between poverty and cognitive outcomes for high-risk infants. …