Adult Children of the Incarcerated: An Exploratory Study of Risks and Outcomes Among College Students

To date, research concerning children affected by parental incarceration has focused primarily on children that are eighteen years of age and younger. The effects of parental incarceration on adults that are eighteen years of age and older has remained unexamined. The purpose of this exploratory stu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gadson, Shari B
Format: Others
Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cj_theses/3
http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=cj_theses
Description
Summary:To date, research concerning children affected by parental incarceration has focused primarily on children that are eighteen years of age and younger. The effects of parental incarceration on adults that are eighteen years of age and older has remained unexamined. The purpose of this exploratory study is to explore the outcomes of young adult college students that have been affected by parental incarceration. A sample of 345 undergraduate college students was surveyed at a sizeable University in the southeastern region of the United States to create a demographic and behavioral profile of college students affected by parental incarceration. It was hypothesized that college students affected by parental incarceration will have lower institutional grade point averages (GPA), higher accounts of criminal involvement, higher likelihoods of substance abuse, and lower levels of self-control than college students that have not been affected by parental incarceration. Results indicated that, the outcomes of college students affected by parental incarceration were comparable to college students not affected by parental incarceration.