Incarcerated Parents: Adjustment of Their Children and Families

Nationwide, the number of Americans who are incarcerated has increased dramatically over the years. Many of these men and women are parents. By 1999, nearly 1.5 million minor children had a parent in prison. Little is known about the well-being and adjustment of children and families when a parent is incarcerated.

Given this need, and the need for data specific to the state of Hawai‘i, a Center on the Family research project was designed with the following objectives:

• To obtain descriptive information about Hawai‘i’s incarcerated parents and their children and families
• To describe the well-being and adjustment of children and families when parents are incarcerated
• To determine whether there are differences in the well-being and adjustment of children and families when mothers vs. fathers are incarcerated
• To determine whether there are differences in the well-being and adjustment of children and families when parents are incarcerated in Hawai‘i vs. out-of-state

This project is funded by a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the University of Hawai‘i’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (HATCH Project No. 372H).

For more information, contact

Dr. John Engel, at jengel@hawaii.edu