Date Thesis Awarded

5-2009

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Danielle H. Dallaire

Committee Members

Janice Zeman

Salvatore Saporito

Abstract

Having a history of parental incarceration is associated with an increased risk for numerous challenges. The present study examined several factors of peer relations among children with incarcerated parents and their peers to determine if problematic peer relations play a role in the difficulties these children experience. Participants were 77 elementary school children and their caregivers from a high-crime, high-poverty neighborhood, over half of whom had experienced parental incarceration. Caregivers assessed their child's social behavior and problem behaviors, and, during the course of an interview, children's helping behavior was assessed through a behavioral measure. Children with incarcerated parents displayed significantly more aggressive behavior than their peers and, according to their caregivers, they also tended to have more aggressive social behavior and to engage in greater relational aggression. Because aggression is an important indicator of problematic peer relations, it is very likely that the increased difficulties that children with incarcerated parents face are partially related to additional challenges with their peer relations.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Comments

Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.

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