Family member incarceration, depression and adolescents’ school-based disciplinary events

Background

In the United States, having an incarcerated parent increases risk for mental health issues such as depression. However, research has yet to explore the impact of any family members’ incarceration (e.g., parent, nonparental relative, or multiple family members) on adolescents’ school disciplinary issues for delinquent behaviors (e.g., disorderly conduct, truancy, running away, weapons carrying, vandalism, or shoplifting) and the role of depressive symptoms in this association.

Methods

Data are survey responses (geocoded and linked to neighborhood crime rates and socioeconomic status) from diverse high school students (N = 2,228) enrolled in a school-based study. GLMs assessed the association between family member incarceration and school disciplinary incidents and whether depressive symptoms moderated these relationships. All models adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, state, other family-based stressors (e.g., substance use, divorce, domestic violence), neighborhood crime and socioeconomic status.

Results

The sample was ethnically diverse and evenly divided by sex. Approximately 27% of youth reported family member incarceration [ non-parental relative (6%); parent/caregiver (8%); multiple family members (13%)]. Nearly 1 in 5 (19%) youth had at least one disciplinary event for delinquency. Compared to their peers, youth who had an incarcerated parent/caregiver (AOR: 2.49, 95% CI: 1.95, 4.13) or multiple incarcerated family members (AOR: 2.84, 95% CI: 1.95, 3.94) had over twice the odds of having at least one school disciplinary event. More frequent and severe depressive symptoms exacerbated the association between family member incarceration and disciplinary events (p=0.01).

Conclusions

These findings highlight the impact of social factors such as incarceration in youth outcomes and the need to develop multi-system initiatives that address both family trauma and mental health symptomology to reduce youth delinquency and justice involvement.

Key messages

• This Findings highlight the programs to address adversity and help youth to overcomes challenges.

• Develop multi-system initiatives that address both family trauma and mental health symptomology to reduce youth delinquency and justice involvement.