How Do Mothers in Prison Differ From Non-Mothers?

Adjustment patterns and criminal characteristics of 350 incarcerated mothers of children under 21 years of age were contrasted to those of 166 women from the same institution that had never had children. There were no observed differences between mothers and non-mothers in terms of self-reported men...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of child and family studies Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 82 - 95
Main Author Loper, Ann B
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer Nature B.V 01.02.2006
Subjects
Caregivers
Child Rearing
Child welfare
Comparative studies
Correctional Institutions
Criminal justice
Criminal offences
Criminals
Depression (Psychology)
Family Involvement
Females
Imprisonment
Mental Disorders
Mental health
Mothers
Offenders
Parent-child relations
Parental stress
Parenthood
Parenting
Parents
Prisoners
Prisons
Resistance (Psychology)
School Psychology
Stress
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Summary:Adjustment patterns and criminal characteristics of 350 incarcerated mothers of children under 21 years of age were contrasted to those of 166 women from the same institution that had never had children. There were no observed differences between mothers and non-mothers in terms of self-reported mental illness symptoms, emotional distress, or conflict with other individuals at the prison. There were also no differences in terms of institutional infractions observed by prison officials. Consistent with previous research with the same sample, there were adjustment differences between mothers reporting high versus low levels of parenting stress, but neither group of mothers evidenced different adjustment patterns relative to non-mothers. However, there were differences in criminal characteristics. Mothers were more likely than non-mothers to be incarcerated for property or drug offenses, and were more likely to have at least one current or previous drug offense in their criminal history. Non-mothers were more likely than mothers to be incarcerated for violent offenses, including homicide. Results indicate that although there are differences between mothers and non-mothers in the contexts associated with criminal behavior, both groups show the same range of adjustment problems once in prison. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
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ISSN:1062-1024
1573-2843
DOI:10.1007/s10826-005-9005-x