The Incarcerated Parent: Examining Mother-Child Conflict at the Margins through a Bio-Ecological Lens

ABSTRACT

This study examined conflict, parenting communication style, and attitudes regarding the parent-child relationship for a marginalized special population: incarcerated mothers and their children. Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological perspective served as a guiding framework, based on its ability to consider family interactions across ecological contexts, both proximal and distal to the developing child’s home setting. Fifty incarcerated mothers in the central U.S. provided in-depth interviews and individual self-report surveys. Findings indicate that incarcerated mothers most frequently used an authoritative parenting communication style in conflict situations that ended positively, and authoritarian style in conflict that ended negatively. Authoritative parenting was associated with incarcerated mothers’ reports of greater satisfaction with parenting. Study findings suggest that parenting communication style can help support efforts to reduce recidivism. Contextualizing these findings within Bronfenbrenner’s model, the present study affirms the role of proximal as well as distal factors governing relational communication between incarcerated mothers and their children.     

A multi-site evaluation of Parents Raising Safe Kids Violence Prevention Program

The Parents Raising Safe Kids Program (PRSK) is a research-based manualized violence prevention curriculum designed to decrease coercive parenting behavior, encourage positive discipline, increase media violence literacy, and increase child development knowledge. This study is a multi-site pre-post comparison evaluation of PRSK's effectiveness with diverse parents, including those who are incarcerated, in drug treatment and both English and Spanish speaking. Results indicate that PRSK was successful at improving media violence literacy, positive parenting behavior, child development knowledge, anger management, and prosocial problem solving. Additionally, PRSK was especially efficacious for Spanish speaking participants, who improved more than English speakers. Due to the need for appropriate and cost-effective programs for underrepresented groups, these results add to the growing evidence base supporting the use of PRSK with diverse parents. PRSK is effective in educating caregivers about nonviolent parenting behavior and child development. It is flexible, focuses on parents of very young children, and is cost effective. The program costs a fraction of other evidence-based practices yet statistical effect sizes for change over time are comparable.     

Engaging substance-affected families in child welfare: parent perspectives of a parenting intervention at program initiation and completion

Families affected by substance abuse are at an increased risk of child welfare involvement and poor child welfare outcomes. One strategy to improve outcomes among these families is evidence-based parenting interventions. While these interventions show the potential for advancing the child welfare field, they have not been widely and rigorously evaluated with birth parents, especially those affected by substance abuse, who face marked vulnerability and marginalization. We sought to draw on parents’ expertise and to understand their first and changing impressions throughout involvement in a parenting intervention, as well as overall impressions at program completion. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 10 parents who were involved in child welfare and a family drug treatment court. All parents were affected by parental substance use and had recently completed the Strengthening Families Program. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed for prominent themes. The study’s findings showed that parents described four key themes that influenced their perspectives of the parenting intervention: program reputation as communicated by peers, relevance and applicability of the program, children’s involvement and enjoyment of the program, and program structure issues that pointed to the need for high-quality group facilitation. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Parenting While Incarcerated: Tailoring the Strengthening Families Program for use with jailed mothers

Most incarcerated women are mothers. Parenting programs may benefit women, children and families, yet effectively intervening in correctional settings is a challenges. An evidence-based parenting intervention (the Strengthening Families Program) was tailored and implemented with women in a jail setting. Goals were to assess mothers' needs and interests regarding parenting while they were incarcerated, adapt the program to address those needs, and establish intervention delivery and evaluation methods in collaboration with a community-based agency. Women reported wanting to know more about effective communication; how children manage stress; finances; drug and alcohol use; self-care; and stress reduction. They reported high program satisfaction and reported reduced endorsement of corporal punishment after the intervention. Barriers to implementation included unpredictable attendance from session to session due to changing release dates, transfer to other facilities, and jail policies (e.g., lock-down; commissary hours). Implications for sustainable implementation of parenting programs in jail settings are discussed.     

The Effects of the Healthy Families America Home Visitation Program on Parenting Attitudes and Practices and Child Social and Emotional Competence

This study examined the effects of a Healthy Families America (HFA) credentialed home visitation program on the parenting attitudes and practices of a sample of at-risk parents. It also examined the social and emotional competence of children whose parents successfully completed the program. The HFA model is an intensive early intervention program that targets at-risk families through home visitation services. Successful completion of the program is a process that takes between 3 and 5 years. Results indicate that, relative to the baseline, parents who completed the program showed significant positive change in parenting attitudes and practices. In addition, relative to other children their age, the children of families who successfully completed the program exhibited significantly higher levels of performance on measures of social and emotional competence.     

Preparing for the drug free years: session-specific effects of a universal parent-training intervention with rural families

Like their urban counterparts, adolescents from rural areas are at risk for health and behavior problems, including alcohol and other drug use. This study tested the effects on parenting practices of specific sessions of a parent-training intervention, Preparing for the Drug Free Years, designed to prevent adolescent substance abuse and other problem behaviors. Two hundred and nine rural families were randomly assigned to an intervention or a wait-list control condition. Analyses of covariance comparing adjusted posttest scores revealed that parents in the intervention condition reported significant improvements in parenting behaviors targeted by specific intervention sessions when compared with controls. Effects were most pronounced among mothers. No significant effects were found for nontargeted parenting behaviors, and targeted behaviors were most improved among parents attending relevant program sessions. These results strengthen the internal validity of the study and increase the plausibility that reported improvements were due to the intervention.     

Extension-Based Divorce Education: A Quasi-Experimental Design Study of the Parents Forever Program

The field of divorce education is calling for greater rigor in evaluating program effectiveness and University Extension programs are no exception. Parents Forever, a University of Minnesota Extension divorce education program developed in the 1990s, conducted a quasi-experimental design study, with a sample of in-person class participants and a comparison sample of divorcing parents. Independent samples t tests were conducted between the unstandardized residuals of each group. In support of the program’s goals, results indicated positive program effects for several variables related to parenting practices, adult quality of life, self-efficacy, and parent report of child conduct problems and peer problems (p < .01). No effect was found for coparenting conflict, adult social health, and child hyperactivity, and marginal program effects (p < .05), both positive and negative, were found for coparenting alliance (–), positive parenting (+), child emotional symptoms (+), and child prosocial behavior (–).     

Looking at engagement and outcome from the perspectives of child protection workers and parents

This paper reports a study that sought to understand what facilitates engagement between parents and child protection workers and to ascertain the relationship between such engagement and intervention outcome. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through personal interviews with 131 worker-parent dyads (workers and corresponding parents receiving service) from 11 child protection agencies in Ontario, Canada. Measures included scales for engagement, parental well-being (depression and stress), and worker well-being (burnout, job satisfaction, stress). Outcome measures included perception of child safety, changed parenting practices and satisfaction. A relationship was found between workers' perception of parent engagement and parents' perception of their own engagement, as well as between the perceptions that workers and parents had around their own respective engagement. Workers who were satisfied with service outcomes were significantly more engaged than those who were unsatisfied. Parents thinking that their children were safer as a result of intervention were significantly more engaged than parents who thought that their children were less safe. The strongest reason given by parents for positive change was being able to trust their worker (p < .001) and believing that their worker was knowledgeable about parenting (p < .01). Qualitative data suggested that parents valued experienced workers because they thought such workers could better understand their problems and how to deal with them. Correspondingly, workers felt that experience enabled them to better understand clients' problems and provide more effective support. No relationship was found between parent engagement and parental depression or stress, but the mean depression score for parents placed them at risk of clinical depression. There was a negative correlation between worker stress and engagement. The study demonstrates that engagement between clients and workers is related to positive outcomes (as reported by workers and parents) and supports the contention that promoting engagement is integral to a successful child protection intervention.     

Effects of a video feedback parent training program during child welfare visitation

Behavioral parent training programs have documented efficacy for improving behaviors among parents and their children and are frequently used by child welfare agencies to prevent removal of a child from the parental home or to facilitate reunification. Although an ideal time for parent training might be during supervised visits where parents may practice skills with their children under the guidance and support of a therapist or caseworker, this is not typically the case. Most often, parents within the child welfare system receive parent training in small groups without their children present, and to date, few studies have examined effects of behavioral parent training interventions during supervised visitation. In this study, concurrent multiple baseline across behaviors design was used to examine effects of a behavioral parent training program, Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND), on parental skill acquisition with four mothers who had lost custody of their children but were being considered for reunification. Children emitted little or no problem behaviors during baseline or intervention, so parenting behavior was the primary dependent variable. Results obtained across participants documented a clear functional relation between implementation of the FIND intervention and increases in developmentally supportive parenting behaviors. Results of social validity and contextual fit measures suggest the intervention was perceived by mothers to be positive, feasible, and appropriate within the child welfare context. Practical and conceptual implications, limitations of this study, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Attachment Representations and Parental Memories of Incarcerated Fathers

This article presents the findings of a study designed to apply attachment theory concepts to a group of incarcerated fathers in a minimum-security facility. Participants in this convenience sample were either immediate graduates of a 13-week parenting skills program or currently involved in the parenting skills program. This exploratory study sought to examine first, whether the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) could effectively determine current mental representations of attachment relationships with a group of incarcerated fathers. Secondly, to gain further knowledge of this population regarding the impact of familial aspects by use of a survey measure, along with two other standardized measures were implemented. Thirty-eight voluntary subjects participated in the intensive AAI in scheduled individual sessions, completing child abuse additional measures. Differences among a three-category adult attachment classifications and five-category attachment classifications were identified. Both qualitative and quantitative results are discussed.     

Replication of the KEEP foster and kinship parent training program for youth with externalizing behaviors

This article presents findings from Maryland KEEP, a replication of KEEP (Keeping Foster and Kinship Parents Trained and Supported), a foster and kinship parent training intervention. We examined child behavior change, changes in caregiver parenting style, and permanency and placement stability at baseline and then after the KEEP intervention. The KEEP intervention was provided to 65 foster and kinship parents providing care for children ages 4–12. Children who participated in the study were referred due to behavior problems, as reported by foster parents: they all scored in the clinical range for externalizing behavior on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Baseline and posttest analyses assessed for child behavior and parenting style changes. Permanency data, including placement moves and exits from child welfare were examined. Overall, foster and kinship parents reported significantly fewer child behavior problems at posttest; severity levels on the CBCL and scores on the Parent Daily Report decreased. However, there were not any changes in parenting styles from baseline to posttest. Placement stability significantly increased between baseline and post-KEEP intervention. The results provide support for the effectiveness of KEEP for a child welfare population with a high level of behavior problems and for the effectiveness of KEEP as a training program for foster and kinship parents.     

Explaining the Early Development and Health of Teen Mothers’ Children1

The transmission of social disadvantage from teenage mothers to their children is well established, but when and why do these disparities emerge in the early life course? Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Birth Cohort, this study investigated the relationship between teen childbearing and children’s cognition, behavior, and health from infancy through preschool. Developmental disparities between teenage mothers’ children and others were largely nonexistent at nine months but accumulated with age. Having a teenage mother predicted compromised development across several domains by age four and a half. Our conceptual model expected preexisting disadvantage, ongoing resource disadvantage, and compromised parenting quality to explain the association between teen childbearing and child outcomes. Preexisting social disadvantage accounted for much of this relationship. Financial, social, and material resources in the child’s household partially or fully explained each of the remaining significant relationships between teenage childbearing and child outcomes. Parenting quality explained a smaller proportion of these relationships than did resources, and these factors’ influences were largely independent. Because children of teenage mothers with a modest set of resources were not predicted to have compromised development, resources provided in early childhood may have the potential to reduce developmental disparities for teenage mothers’ children.     

Pregnant and Postpartum Adolescents' Perceptions of the Consequences of Child Abuse

A study of 263 pregnant and postpartum indigent and minority teens was conducted in order to examine their perceptions of the consequences of child abuse and their own child abuse history. Teens identified drug and alcohol abuse and teen suicide as the most serious consequences of abuse. Interestingly, they did not identify pregnancy as a consequence. Twenty-seven percent reported a history of abuse. Identifying behavioral and emotional consequences of abuse is important because it affects both the well-being of the adolescent mother and her child. An experience of abuse and its behavioral consequences may interfere with a teen's ability to benefit from parenting intervention programs. Therefore, parenting programs may wish to consider the necessity of screening for a history of abuse as well as adding components on behavioral problems adolescent mothers are concerned about. Additionally, there is a need to reach out to pregnant, parenting and future parents in other settings such as prisons, psychiatric, and residential centers, since issues of abuse may coexist with other behaviors.     

The Longitudinal Influence of Self‐Efficacy,Communication, and Parenting on Spontaneous Adolescent Disclosure

This study involving 463 adolescents examined the impact of parent, teen, and parent–teen interaction processes on spontaneous disclosure to mothers. High openness in communication and stronger disclosure self‐efficacy beliefs were associated with more disclosure at follow‐up. Although a positive relationship was also found for maternal warmth/responsiveness when it was considered together with other parenting attributes, its unique contribution to the disclosure process was attenuated once openness and self‐efficacy beliefs were taken into account. Domain‐specific predictors of disclosure were also explored. Open communication was important for disclosure across all domains, while self‐efficacy beliefs were critical for revealing difficult information. These findings underscore the importance of fostering an open environment in families that nurtures adolescents' confidence to engage in disclosure with parents.     

Sexual health programming for vulnerable youth: Improving knowledge,attitudes, and behaviors

PurposeAmong girls in foster care, 48% become pregnant at least once by age 19 (Dworsky & Courtney, 2010). Youth in or at-risk for foster care (YFC) report limited knowledge about, access to, and use of condoms; ambivalent attitudes towards teen parenting; and participation in other risky behaviors. For the current study, we adapted and supplemented an evidence-based sexual health program called SiHLE, using a systematic adaptation framework (ADAPT-ITT, Wingood & DiClemete, 2008), to address the unique and targeted needs of youth living in a temporary shelter due to lack of housing. Youth in this study were either in foster care and awaiting placement, or having serious family problems and were at-risk of entering the foster care system.MethodsThirty-six youth participated in SiHLE-YFC during their stay at a temporary shelter. Four 90-minute sessions focused on increasing sexual health knowledge, improving attitudes towards and self-efficacy of condom use, and developing core skills such as problem-solving and communication.ResultsAs hypothesized, youth showed high satisfaction with the intervention and significant improvement in sexual health knowledge from pre to post. At one-month follow-up, youth continued to show significant improvement in sexual health knowledge, along with a significant reduction in risky sexual behaviors. Though not significant, there were moderate effect sizes for changes in attitudes towards teen pregnancy and condoms. There were no changes in attitudes towards teen parenting.ConclusionTaken together, findings suggest that sexual health education directly targeting the unique needs of YFC may improve sexual health knowledge and behavior, and are discussed in the context of challenges associated with intervention and research with this population.     

An analysis of the relationship between parenting self-efficacy,the quality of parenting,and parental and child emotional health

ABSTRACT

The relationship between parenting self-efficacy, the quality of parenting, and parental and child emotional health has been conducted with Caucasian families and young children. The purpose of this study was to examine these relationships in ethnically diverse and impoverished families with children who have behavior problems. We examined the relationships between parenting self-efficacy, parenting practices, child externalizing problems, and caregiver depression. Participants included 213 caregivers of children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), who rated their parenting self-efficacy and completed questionnaires on parenting practices (APQ and FAD); child externalizing behaviors (Iowa Connors Inattention and ODD subscales); and caregiver depression (CESD). Data were examined using Chi-Square tests, a Linear Regression, and a One-Way ANOVA. Results demonstrate parenting self-efficacy was positively associated with positive parenting and inversely associated with inconsistent discipline. Among parents who perceived themselves as being a “better than average parent,” there was a greater percentage of youth who met cutoff for inattention problems as compared to youth who did not meet this cutoff. Lastly, depression scores were lowest for caregivers identifying as below average parents. This study underscores the need for involving parents and enhancing parenting self-efficacy in interventions targeting Disruptive Behavior Disorders.     

“I'll Be There for You”: Teen Parents' Coparenting Relationships

Marriage promotion policy agendas have focused research attention on coparenting relationships, but little is known about coparenting among teen parents. Using qualitative interviews with 76 teen mothers and fathers supplemented with site observations at a school and clinic, the authors investigated coparenting relationships and those relationships' embeddedness in extended families and social institutions. They identified prevalent coparenting trajectories and analyzed individual‐, interaction‐, and institutional‐level influences on coparenting. Coparenting trajectories diverged depending on whether the couple stayed together and assumed traditionally gendered parenting roles. Participants perceived that coparenting relationships strongly shaped their current and future socioeconomic, emotional, and practical circumstances and their success at “being there” for their child. Extended families, institutions, and social programs often pushed teen parents apart, although many participants felt they needed a functional relationship with the other parent. Coparenting relationships, considered jointly with extended families and social institutions, are fundamental for understanding teen parenthood and shaping effective social policies.     

Groupwork for Parents whose Children are in Care: Challenges and Opportunities

Until recently, the focus for child protection in NSW has been on risk assessment, supportive measures for parents, and ‘the best interests of the child’. The needs of the birth families, once their children have been removed have not received the same attention. An emerging body of research indicates a growing awareness of the importance of the link between good outcomes for children in care and positive ongoing links with their birth parents. Biological parents of children who have been removed invariably continue to have parenting relationships, if not with the removed child, then with subsequent birth children, step children and children in their extended family. Service provision for this group of parents is critical given the complexity and scale of their emotional needs, and the implications for the children they will care for. In this paper, we describe one such intervention: Kids in Care, a group program offered at Relationships Australia NSW, and consider the arising issues and dilemmas for both parents and group workers. Developed to address the particular needs of parents whose children have been taken into care, the group creates an environment of acceptance and support. This opens up possibilities for parents to consider issues of grief, stigma and trauma, as well as to develop skills in communication, assertiveness and emotional regulation.     

Prison Parenting Programs

Abstract

Estimates indicate that parents make up a large segment of the prison population in the United States. Parental incarceration affects the whole family. For children of incarcerated parents, separation is painful and can be detrimental to their development. Effective parenting programs in prisons can be beneficial to the incarcerated parents, their children, and society. This study surveyed 745 state prisons to gather data on their parent populations and their prison parenting programs. Findings indicate significant differences by gender of prisons and program structures.