Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal

, Volume 34, Issue 6, pp 557–572 | Cite as

Adolescent Adaptation to Parental Incarceration

Article
First Online:

Abstract

This qualitative transcendental phenomenological study considered the lived experience of having a parent or parental figure incarcerated during one’s adolescence. The study analyzed 15 in-depth, in-person, semi-structured interviews with six participants between the ages of 18 and 29 from the city of Chicago. Textural-structural analysis indicated five separate results: the influence of parental incarceration on the developmental experience, the emotional influence of parental incarceration, the social influence of parental incarceration, the spiritual influence of parental incarceration, and the three key aspects of the experience (truth, the kind of relationship the participant had with the incarcerated parent, and the availability of an attuned subsequent caregiver). The analysis indicated that an adolescent’s adaptation to the world after experiencing this phenomenon fell into one of three spheres of adaptation. A number of clinical and social justice implications were identified along with avenues for future research to better understand the phenomenon and how it affects those who experience it.

Keywords

Transcendental phenomenology Adolescents Parental incarceration Adolescent experience Adaptation 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank her disseration chair, James N. Lampe Ph.D., and dissertation committee for their guidance throughout the project. A special thanks to Ida Roldan Ph.D and Denise Duval Tsioles Ph.D. for your comments and notes on the project.

Funding

This study did not receive any funding from grants or patrons. This study was self-funded, as it was part of a doctoral program

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest

There is no conflict of interest, since the first author is the sole author.

Ethical approval

At the time of submission, the data presented in the article is part of a dissertation manuscript written for completion of a doctoral program at the Institute for Clinical Social Work. At this time, the author has not yet defended this thesis; therefore, the Institute for Clinical Social Work as an institution has not fully vetted the completed project. This study involved human research participants, and ethical approval was received prior to the start of the study. All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.The Institute for Clinical Social WorkChicagoUSA

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