The Intergenerational Transmission of Imprisonment Among Children with Maternal Incarceration Experiences: Detrimental to Some

Background and Purpose: Children with maternal incarceration experiences have substantially higher incarceration rates than their counterparts without maternal incarceration experiences. However, research on the association between maternal incarceration and intergenerational transmission of incarceration to children has generated inconsistent findings. Some studies indicate that maternal incarceration is a significant predictor of the intergenerational transmission of imprisonment. Other studies suggest that maternal incarceration is inconsequential to the child’s risk of criminal justice involvement or is only detrimental to children with specific background characteristics. The conflicting findings are potentially attributable to the use of a dichotomized incarceration history measure in most existing studies (i.e., with or without maternal incarceration experiences) that masks different maternal imprisonment experiences across samples. This study used comprehensive maternal incarceration trajectories over the life course to determine the nature and array of maternal incarceration histories associated with the intergenerational transmission of imprisonment.

Methods: Data and samples: We used the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities, a nationally representative cross-sectional dataset with a retrospective longitudinal incarceration history component, for analysis. The study sample consisted of 881 imprisoned mothers who had at least one complete incarceration history data.

Measures: Through in-person interviews, participants self-reported sociodemographic characteristics, incarceration histories (i.e., date of admission, age of incarceration, and duration of incarceration), imprisonment experiences (i.e., type of correctional facilities incarcerated, type of offenses convicted, and whether or not sentenced as an adult), and their children’s criminal justice involvement.

Analysis: Group-based trajectory modeling was conducted to identify subgroups of children with distinct maternal incarceration trajectories. We then employed simple correlation analyses to examine the associations between the child’s risk of incarceration and the mother’s incarceration trajectories, sociodemographic characteristics, and incarceration experiences. After controlling for the mother’s sociodemographic characteristics and incarceration experiences, multivariate logistic regression was conducted to investigate the relationship between maternal incarceration trajectories and the intergenerational transmission of imprisonment.

Results: Group-based trajectory modeling identified four groups of mothers with distinct incarceration trajectories: stably escalating group (n = 33, 3.75%), moderate declining group (n = 665, 75.48%), adolescence-peak group (n = 109, 12.37%), and young-adulthood-peak group (n = 74, 8.40%). Multivariate logistic regression suggested that children whose mothers followed the young-adulthood-peak incarceration trajectory had 2.87 the odds as children whose mothers followed the moderate declining incarceration trajectory to have imprisonment histories (95% CI = 1.05–7.83, p = .04). Moreover, the mother’s experience of sexual abuse (OR= 1.69, 95% CI = 1.06–2.71, p = .03) and juvenile justice involvement (OR=.32, 95% CI = .11–.98, p = .04) were also significant predictors of the intergenerational transmission of incarceration.

Conclusions and Implications: This study suggests the need for future research to use comprehensive longitudinal maternal incarceration measures, instead of oversimplified measures, to understand its direct and collateral consequences. Findings indicate that social work interventions should target the unique challenges of children who have experienced maternal incarceration in specific developmental stages. Further, trauma-informed rehabilitative interventions for imprisoned mothers could alleviate the intergenerational transmission of imprisonment.