In 2019, Dr. Marcus Shaw published a quantitative research study that showed, on average, children of incarcerated parents receive lower grades, are less happy in school and, overall, have less educational success.
While these statistics showed the result of what was happening, they did not show why.
So Shaw, an assistant professor of criminology, set out to gain more insight. He recently had two research studies on parental incarceration published in top academic journals including Family Relations, accredited by the National Council for Family Relations.
In an effort to expand his findings, Shaw interviewed 31 children (now adults) of an incarcerated parent, over the span of three years, about their life experiences and the long-term effects of parental incarceration. He gathered data using qualitative research methods and found intergenerational impacts of mass incarceration and parental incarceration.
“When we talk to kids, we don’t know the full impact of the incarceration on their life course,” Shaw said. “In my study, adults could now reflect on their experiences, and I could then analyze their age at the time the parents were incarcerated and the impact it had on them.”
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