ERIC Number: EJ958814
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Apr
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0197-6664
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Mothering while Imprisoned: The Effects of Family and Child Dynamics on Mothering Attitudes
Stringer, Ebonie Cunningham; Barnes, Sandra L.
Family Relations, v61 n2 p313-326 Apr 2012
Since the early 1990s, the number of children with imprisoned mothers has increased 131%. A mother's imprisonment potentially exposes children to a concentrated disadvantage that undermines their cognitive, emotional, and intellectual abilities. Additionally, such experiences can have deleterious effects on mother-child relationships, stand-in caregivers, foster care caseloads, the penal system, and society. Less may be understood, however, about how imprisonment affects the ways in which women view themselves as mothers. This study examines mothering attitudes for a sample of 210 Black, White, and Hispanic imprisoned mothers. Nested modeling results suggest a positive relationship between favorable views about mothering and children's profiles and mothers' expectations about future custody. Regular contact with their children through letter writing and telephone calls foster the most favorable views.
Descriptors: Letters (Correspondence), Mothers, Caregivers, Parent Child Relationship, Foster Care, Institutionalized Persons, Correctional Institutions, Children, Females, Parent Attitudes, African Americans, Whites, Hispanic Americans, Correlation, Expectation, Child Custody
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A