Children of imprisoned parents have higher risk substance abuse, anxiety
Children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely than other children to develop a substance use disorder as adults and nearly twice as likely to have diagnosable anxiety, a new research has revealed. The research from the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy stated that children […]
Children of imprisoned parents have higher risk substance abuse, anxiety
Children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely than other children to develop a substance use disorder as adults and nearly twice as likely to have diagnosable anxiety, a new research has revealed.
The research from the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy stated that children whose parents were incarcerated are more likely to encounter significant hurdles transitioning into adulthood, including being charged with a felony (35% vs. 11.5%), dropping out of school (25.5% vs. 5.0%), becoming a teenage parent (14.3% vs. 2.8%), experiencing financial strain (37.2% vs. 17.5%), and being socially isolated (24.5% vs. 9.4%), the study found.
The study’s co-author, William Copeland of the University of Vermon said, the increased risk for adverse adult outcomes remained after accounting for childhood psychiatric status and other adversities, suggesting that parental incarceration is associated with profound and long-lasting effects for children.
“This increased risk persisted whether the incarcerated parent was biologically related to the child or not. Risk for adverse adult outcomes increased further with each additional incarcerated parent figure.”
A National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2017 data suggests Nigeria officially has a low incarceration rate with a total prison population of 62,260—much less than 1% of the total population. Compared to countries with populations between 100 and 350 million people. Nigeria has the lowest prison population rate per 100,000 citizens.
The United States has among the highest incarceration rates in the world. The US Department of Justice estimates that over half of those who are incarcerated are parents of children under age 18.
With more than 2.7 million children experiencing a parent being sent to jail or prison, understanding the long-term health and social implications of incarceration for children is critical, the researchers said.