Behavioral and emotional problems of prisoners' children in the family environment.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the links between parental incarceration and the level of behavioral and emotional problems in children of incarcerated fathers, based on the information provided by parents.

Methods: The subjects were a group of prisoners' children and two control groups. The criterion group consisted of prisoners' children (N = 72) brought up in families with an increased level of dysfunction and problem behaviors. The first control group (I) was composed of children (N = 76) brought up in complete families; the level of problem behavior in these families and the level of these children's resiliency was similar to that of prisoners' children (i.e., the criterion group). The second control group (II) was composed of children from complete families (N = 98). In these families, problem behaviors were not present at all or their level was very low, and the children's level of resiliency was significantly higher compared to prisoners' children and children from control group I. To measure behavioral and emotional problems, the version of Thomas Achenbach's questionnaire that is meant to be completed by parents: namely, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used.

Results: The level of behavioral and emotional problems in prisoners' children turned out to be significantly higher in all categories of problems compared to their peers from complete families.

Conclusions: The results of the study indicate that parental incarceration is an additional factor increasing behavioral and emotional problems. The results of our study make it reasonable to suspect that parental incarceration affects girls more strongly than it affects boys.