U.S. jails see nearly 11 million annual admissions, rates that disproportionately affect men of color—more than half of whom are fathers. An estimated 7% of U.S. children experience the incarceration of a parent, increasing their risk for poor developmental and health outcomes. Although stress processes are often suggested as an underlying mechanism linking paternal incarceration to child well-being, few studies have examined such links. To study how witnessing a father's arrest prior to incarceration in jail relates to children's stress processes, we collected data on 123 individuals from 41 families with young children whose father was in jail, including collecting hair from 41 children, and analyzed their cumulative stress hormones, cortisol, and cortisone. Results indicate that children had higher cumulative stress hormone concentrations when they witnessed their father's arrest. Moreover, there was evidence of a blunted stress reaction in children who witnessed the arrest and who also had high levels of ongoing behavioral stress symptoms, similar to findings in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder studies. Long-term exposure to stress can have deleterious effects on children's brain development, further increasing risk for developmental psychopathology. Findings have implications for criminal justice approaches that safeguard children during parental arrest.

中文翻译：

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深入剖析：父亲被监禁的幼儿的生理压力和目睹父亲被捕


美国监狱每年收监近 1100 万人，这一比例对有色人种男性影响尤为严重，其中一半以上是父亲。据估计，7% 的美国儿童经历过父母被监禁的经历，这增加了他们发育和健康结果不佳的风险。尽管压力过程通常被认为是父亲监禁与儿童福祉之间的潜在机制，但很少有研究探讨这种联系。为了研究在入狱前目睹父亲被捕与儿童的压力过程有何关系，我们收集了来自 41 个有年幼孩子且父亲入狱的家庭的 123 个人的数据，包括收集 41 个孩子的头发，并分析了他们累积的压力荷尔蒙，皮质醇和可的松。结果表明，当孩子们目睹父亲被捕时，他们的累积应激激素浓度更高。此外，有证据表明，目睹逮捕过程的儿童的应激反应减弱，并且持续存在高水平的行为应激症状，这与创伤后应激障碍研究的结果类似。长期承受压力会对儿童的大脑发育产生有害影响，进一步增加发展性精神病理学的风险。研究结果对在父母被捕期间保护儿童的刑事司法方法具有影响。