The Study of Incarcerated Women’s Needs of Parenting

• Main Authors: Rhey-Wan Wang, 王瑞婉
• Other Authors: Shu-Ling Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/66199590720359739334

碩士 === 國立嘉義大學 === 家庭教育研究所 === 94 === The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs of parenting of incarcerated women. The study focused on their background, parenting condition, needs of parenting, and the influence of their background and parenting condition on their needs of parenting. A self-constructed questionnaire “Incarcerated Women’s Needs of Parenting” was the main investigating instrument. Respondents were 282 inmate mothers who were incarcerated in Taoyuan Women’s Prison. Percentage, frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation, T-test, and One-way ANOVA and Stepwise Multiple Regression were adopted to analyze the data. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1. Most incarcerated mothers were weaklings, facing multiple barriers, such as (1) complicated and unstable intimate relationship; (2) unstable employment and economical insufficiency; (3) high recidivism rate and long cumulative prison term; (4) high rate of physical or sexual abused experience and the intergenerational involvement in abused problem; (5) high rate of drug abuse experience which affected their parenting; (6) having multiple barriers meanwhile. 2. Inmate mothers suffered from multiple parenting problems, like (1) negative self-concepts of parenting role; (2) the conflict between intimate relationship and parenthood which making children separated; (3) having many parenting difficulties and prefering to seek help from parents or siblings; (4) having difficulty in maintaining contact with children; (5) poor perception of children problems; (6) children’s caretakers having difficulties in nurturing; (7) lack of information and utilizing of social resources; (8) neglect of negative influence of criminal stigma on parenting. 3. The needs of inmate mothers were characterized by the following description: (1) The level of needs was medium, between “not required” to “required”. The personal developmental needs were most required for inmate mothers, then the nurturing needs and the needs of utilizing social resources. The needs of crisis management were the least. (2) The main items of needs were improving financial state, increasing opportunities of contact with children and improving the ambience when contact, enhancing parenting skills for children’s growth and development, improving personal skills of stress adjustment and crisis management, learning to utilize social resources. (3) The perception of crisis of inmate mothers and their children was not included in the parenting needs. 4. Some background and parenting variables influenced inmate women’s needs of parenting, such as (1) The needs of inmate mothers were affected by the following factors: age, the level of education, the economical status, recividism, abused experience, and drug abuse experience. (2) Some needs of parenting were above “required” level－the personal developmental needs and the needs of utilizing social resources of inmate women aged between 26 to 35; the personal developmental needs of inmate women with unstable job; all needs, except the needs of crisis management, of inmate women having abused children; (3) The background and parenting variables could make prediction to the needs of inmate mothers. Based on the above conclusion, this research could provide reference resources for correctional institutions, family education and social welfare service facilities and further research on inmate women.