Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.
Psychol Bull. 2012 Mar;138(2):175-210. doi: 10.1037/a0026407. Epub 2012 Jan 9.
Unprecedented numbers of children experience parental incarceration worldwide. Families and children of prisoners can experience multiple difficulties after parental incarceration, including traumatic separation, loneliness, stigma, confused explanations to children, unstable childcare arrangements, strained parenting, reduced income, and home, school, and neighborhood moves. Children of incarcerated parents often have multiple, stressful life events before parental incarceration. Theoretically, children with incarcerated parents may be at risk for a range of adverse behavioral outcomes. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize empirical evidence on associations between parental incarceration and children's later antisocial behavior, mental health problems, drug use, and educational performance. Results from 40 studies (including 7,374 children with incarcerated parents and 37,325 comparison children in 50 samples) were pooled in a meta-analysis. The most rigorous studies showed that parental incarceration is associated with higher risk for children's antisocial behavior, but not for mental health problems, drug use, or poor educational performance. Studies that controlled for parental criminality or children's antisocial behavior before parental incarceration had a pooled effect size of OR = 1.4 (p < .01), corresponding to about 10% increased risk for antisocial behavior among children with incarcerated parents, compared with peers. Effect sizes did not decrease with number of covariates controlled. However, the methodological quality of many studies was poor. More rigorous tests of the causal effects of parental incarceration are needed, using randomized designs and prospective longitudinal studies. Criminal justice reforms and national support systems might be needed to prevent harmful consequences of parental incarceration for children.
全世界都有大量儿童经历父母入狱的情况。囚犯的家庭和孩子在父母入狱后可能会遇到多种困难，包括创伤性分离、孤独、污名化、向孩子解释不清、不稳定的儿童保育安排、紧张的育儿、收入减少以及家庭、学校和社区的搬迁。有入狱父母的孩子在父母入狱前往往会经历多次压力很大的生活事件。从理论上讲，有入狱父母的孩子可能面临一系列不良行为结果的风险。本文进行了一项系统综述，以综合有关父母入狱与儿童后期反社会行为、心理健康问题、药物使用和教育表现之间关联的实证证据。来自 40 项研究（包括 7374 名有入狱父母的儿童和 50 个样本中的 37325 名对照儿童）的结果在荟萃分析中汇总。最严谨的研究表明，父母入狱与儿童反社会行为的风险增加有关，但与心理健康问题、药物使用或教育表现不佳无关。在控制了父母入狱前的犯罪行为或儿童反社会行为的研究中，汇总的效应大小为 OR = 1.4（p <.01），与没有入狱父母的同龄人相比，有入狱父母的儿童反社会行为的风险增加了约 10%。随着控制的协变量数量的增加，效应大小并没有减小。然而，许多研究的方法学质量较差。需要更严格地测试父母入狱的因果效应，使用随机设计和前瞻性纵向研究。可能需要刑事司法改革和国家支持系统来防止父母入狱对儿童造成的有害后果。
