Studies on stigma and incarceration

Stigma and children with justice involved parents

• Many studies have documented how incarcerated individuals are stigmatized and judged harshly
• A growing body of research has examined how the stigmatization extends to children with incarcerated parents
• For example, children with incarcerated parents often describe being bullied and teased at school because of their parent’s incarceration

Elementary school children stigmatize peers with incarcerated parents

• Children indicated that hypothetical peers with incarcerated mothers (vs hypothetical peers without incarcerated mothers) were less likely to have moral beliefs (e.g., Does this person think that hitting another person is wrong?”)
• Children reported more pessimism about hypothetical peers with, versus without, incarcerated mothers
• Children gave fewer stickers to hypothetical peers with, versus without, incarcerated mothers

Teachers stigmatize school children with incarcerated parents

Across two studies of teachers, findings include:

• Study 1: Teachers reported that children with incarcerated parents experience stigmatization in the school setting and children with incarcerated mothers are considered especially at risk
• Study 2: Teachers randomly assigned to a hypothetical scenario describing a girl whose mother is away at prison rated the child as less competent than teachers randomly assigned to scenarios in which the child’s mother was described as being away for other reasons

Why?

Children with incarcerated parents report managing the experience of being stigmatized in a variety of ways:

• Maintaining privacy
• Withholding information
• Self-exclusion
• Self-reliance
• Managing relationships