After a childhood with a parent in prison – relationships and well-being as a child and young adult

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-12-2016-0074
• Pages: 34-45
• Published date: 12 March 2018
• Date: 12 March 2018
• Author: Per-Åke Nylander,Åsa Källström,Karin Hellfeldt
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice

After a childhood with a parent in

prison –relationships and well-being

as a child and young adult

Per-Åke Nylander, Åsa Källström and Karin Hellfeldt

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore whether young adults who had a parent in prison while

growing up in Sweden are disadvantaged in terms of parental support, school well-being and functioning,

and socioemotional and/or behavioral problems, compared to young adults whose parents were not in

prison when they were a child.

Design/methodology/approach –Retrospective self-report information about parental imprisonment and

childhood and adulthood welfare was collected from 2,500 Swedish young adults as part of the RESUME

project. Of these, 52 who had had a parent in prison during their childhood were compared to the young

adults who had not had a parent in prison, by measuring differences concerning their family relations, school

well-being, and well-being as adults, and the risk of some events occurring later in life.

Findings –Having had a parent in prison was significantly related to feeling less loved during childhood, and

having less contact and support from both parents during adulthood, in comparison with other young adults.

In school they experienced lower well-being and were more often placed in special education than other

children. They were at greater risk of not attending higher education, of planning or attempting suicide, and of

being hospitalized for mental health problems than the rest of the young adults.

Research limitations/implications –Taking into consideration the complexity of childhood conditions and

the limitations of retrospective data, prison, and social-services, professionals should pay special attention to

the fact that a child has a parent in prison.

Originality/value –This is a unique study of young adults’experiences of a childhood with parent in prison.

Keywords Young adults, Prison, Relationships, Well-being, Children, Parent

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

The children of imprisoned parents are seen as a vulnerable group, exposed to many kinds

of difficulties in their childhood, not least when it comes to maintaining their relationship

with the imprisoned parent (Dawson et al., 2012; Murray et al., 2012). Prison time is often

accompanied by a deteriorating relationship between parent and child, and many families are

likely to be dissolved (Western et al., 2004). When a parent is imprisoned, the child may thus

be directly affected by the experience of separation and enduring loss (Murray, 2005).

This process might be more or less traumatizing, depending on the circumstances and how

they are explained to the child (Murray et al., 2012; Phillips and Zhao, 2010). The children

might also experience difficulty maintaining contact with their parent in prison, as the active

support of caregivers and relatives is often a necessary condition of this (Shlafer and

Poehlmann, 2010) and they frequently need coachingtobeabletovisittheirparentortowrite

a letter (Nesmith and Ruhland, 2011). Telephone contact and child-friendly visiting

environments are important to keeping up a previously good parent-child relationship, while

visits are less important when the child-parent relationship was already bad before the

imprisonment (Sharratt, 2014). Prisons in different countries differ in the extent to which

they have child-friendly visiting environments. This study explores whether young adults

Received 9 December 2016

Revised 18 February 2017

Accepted 24 April 2017

Per-Åke Nylander is an

Associate Professor and

Åsa Källström is a Professor,

both at the School of Law,

Psychology and Social Work,

Örebro University, Örebro,

Sweden.

Dr Karin Hellfeldt is based at the

School of Law, Psychology and

Social Work, Örebro University,

Örebro, Sweden.

PAG E 34

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INTERNATIONALJOURNAL OF PRISONER HEALTH

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VOL. 14 NO. 1 2018, pp. 34-45, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200 DOI 10.1108/IJPH-12-2016-0074