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Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration

PURPOSE: One in fourteen children in the United States experiences the incarceration of a parent with whom they have lived. Although prior research has established that witnessing the arrest of a parent is a common occurrence for children of criminal justice-involved parents, child outcomes followin...

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Autores principales: Metcalfe, Robyn E., Muentner, Luke D., Reino, Claudia, Schweer-Collins, Maria L., Kjellstrand, Jean M., Eddy, J. Mark
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36157296
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40653-022-00490-1
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author Metcalfe, Robyn E.
Muentner, Luke D.
Reino, Claudia
Schweer-Collins, Maria L.
Kjellstrand, Jean M.
Eddy, J. Mark
author_facet Metcalfe, Robyn E.
Muentner, Luke D.
Reino, Claudia
Schweer-Collins, Maria L.
Kjellstrand, Jean M.
Eddy, J. Mark
author_sort Metcalfe, Robyn E.
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: One in fourteen children in the United States experiences the incarceration of a parent with whom they have lived. Although prior research has established that witnessing the arrest of a parent is a common occurrence for children of criminal justice-involved parents, child outcomes following such an event are understudied. Little is known about the long-term impacts of witnessing an arrest on children and the extent to which they may vary by child age. METHODS: Using longitudinal data from the Parent Child Study of mothers and fathers incarcerated in state prison, we examine the witnessing of parental arrest as an acute traumatic event and identify the extent to which this type of trauma predicts externalizing and internalizing symptoms for children during their parents’ incarceration and following release. RESULTS: Witnessing a parent’s arrest predicted greater internalizing behavior concerns while parents were incarcerated, with a greater magnitude of effect for children under eight years of age. Six months post-release of the parent, children younger than age eight who witnessed the arrest showed significantly higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors. No effect was found for children ages eight years or older. CONCLUSION: Implications for future policies to reduce the likelihood of children witnessing parental arrests, as well as the potential benefit of screening for trauma when working with children with incarcerated parents, are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-94833682022-09-19 Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration Metcalfe, Robyn E. Muentner, Luke D. Reino, Claudia Schweer-Collins, Maria L. Kjellstrand, Jean M. Eddy, J. Mark J Child Adolesc Trauma Original Article PURPOSE: One in fourteen children in the United States experiences the incarceration of a parent with whom they have lived. Although prior research has established that witnessing the arrest of a parent is a common occurrence for children of criminal justice-involved parents, child outcomes following such an event are understudied. Little is known about the long-term impacts of witnessing an arrest on children and the extent to which they may vary by child age. METHODS: Using longitudinal data from the Parent Child Study of mothers and fathers incarcerated in state prison, we examine the witnessing of parental arrest as an acute traumatic event and identify the extent to which this type of trauma predicts externalizing and internalizing symptoms for children during their parents’ incarceration and following release. RESULTS: Witnessing a parent’s arrest predicted greater internalizing behavior concerns while parents were incarcerated, with a greater magnitude of effect for children under eight years of age. Six months post-release of the parent, children younger than age eight who witnessed the arrest showed significantly higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors. No effect was found for children ages eight years or older. CONCLUSION: Implications for future policies to reduce the likelihood of children witnessing parental arrests, as well as the potential benefit of screening for trauma when working with children with incarcerated parents, are discussed. Springer International Publishing 2022-09-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9483368/ /pubmed/36157296 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40653-022-00490-1 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
spellingShingle Original Article
Metcalfe, Robyn E.
Muentner, Luke D.
Reino, Claudia
Schweer-Collins, Maria L.
Kjellstrand, Jean M.
Eddy, J. Mark
Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration
title Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration
title_full Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration
title_fullStr Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration
title_full_unstemmed Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration
title_short Witnessing Parental Arrest As a Predictor of Child Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms During and After Parental Incarceration
title_sort witnessing parental arrest as a predictor of child internalizing and externalizing symptoms during and after parental incarceration
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36157296
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40653-022-00490-1
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