Browsing by Author "Öhrmark, Lotta"

Incarcerated mothers of small children are a group in need of special attention. The first year of a child is thought as significantly important when the child is developing an attachment bond to their mother. During this period of time, a long lasting separation from the primary caregiver can be damaging to the child. In many countries, mothers are separated from their children during their prison sentence, but in special units, some are given the chance to live together with their child. The aim of my thesis is to examine how living in prison will affect the child, the future development of the child, and the attachment bond between the mother and the child. I will also study the effects of incarceration on the mothers' mental health and parenting. My data consists of peer-reviewed articles, searched with Google Scholar. In my data, I included studies in which the sample consisted of mothers and children living in prison, or of mothers who were separated from their small children because of their prison stay. The chosen articles used quantitative methods to measure variables related to the well-being of the children or the mothers, or the attachment between the children and the mothers. Nine studies were included, all of which were carried out in the USA or in England, and published during the years 2000-2018. In two of the studies, most of the children who were living in a mother and baby unit in prison were securely attached to their mothers. In another study, preschool-aged children who had lived in prison as babies had less depression and anxiety symptoms than the children who had been separated from their mothers as babies. In follow-up, the mothers in the first group were more likely to have the custody of their children than the mothers in the comparison group. Connections to other variables, such as maternal interaction, depression and reflective functioning were weaker: there are results that support the effectiveness of prison interventions, but also results that are against the interventions. Prison nurseries did not have a statistically significant effect on the variables in the studies, but no study that was explored here reported any negative effects to the children either. In the light of these results, alternatives for a separation should be guaranteed to as many mothers and children as possible. Research has also shown that various incarcerated mothers have a lot of mental health problems, a history of traumatic experiences and and an insecure attachment bond. More research is needed to define effective interventions and treatments targeted to this risk group.