Comparing Emotion Recognition Skills among Children with and without Jailed Parents

Approximately five million children in the United States have experienced a co-resident parent’s incarceration in jail or prison. Parental incarceration is associated with multiple risk factors for maladjustment, which may contribute to the increased likelihood of behavioral problems in this population. Few studies have examined early predictors of maladjustment among children with incarcerated parents, limiting scholars’ understanding about potential points for prevention and intervention. Emotion recognition skills may play a role in the development of maladjustment and may be amenable to intervention. The current study examined whether emotion recognition skills differed between three- to eight-year-old children with and without jailed parents. We hypothesized that children with jailed parents would have a negative bias in processing emotions and less accuracy compared to children without incarcerated parents. Data were drawn from 128 families, including 75 children (53.3% male, M = 5.37 years) with jailed parents and 53 children (39.6% male, M = 5.02 years) without jailed parents. Caregivers in both samples provided demographic information. Children performed an emotion recognition task in which they were asked to produce a label for photos expressing six different emotions (i.e., happy, surprised, neutral, sad, angry, fearful). For scoring, the number of positive and negative labels were totaled; the number of negative labels provided for neutral and positive stimuli were totaled (measuring negative bias/overextension of negative labels); and valence accuracy (i.e., positive, negative, neutral) and label accuracy were calculated. Results indicated a main effect of parental incarceration on the number of positive labels provided; children with jailed parents presented significantly fewer positive emotions than the comparison group. There was also a main effect of parental incarceration on negative bias (the overextension of negative labels); children with jailed parents had a negative bias compared to children without jailed parents. However, these findings did not hold when controlling for child age, race/ethnicity, receipt of special education services, and caregiver education. The results provide some evidence for the effect of the context of parental incarceration in the development of negative emotion recognition biases. Limitations and implications for future research and interventions are discussed

Health and Health Care Utilization Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness and Parental Incarceration in Minnesota

This infographic includes characteristics of Minnesota youth who have experienced parental incarceration and homelessness

Lessons Learned from Parenting Inside Out Implementation in Minnesota Jails (2021-2023)

Beginning in 2019, six county jails in Minnesota formed a Model Jail Practices Learning Community focused on implementing new programming and strategies to better support incarcerated parents and their children. As a part of this work, the jails offered Parenting Inside Out (PIO), an evidence-based parenting skills training program for parents involved in the criminal legal system. This brief summarizes findings from surveys completed by PIO participants at the beginning and end of the program, lessons learned from program implementation, and data limitations

How are the dietary needs of pregnant incarcerated women being met? a scoping review and thematic analysis

© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Introduction: The number of incarcerated pregnant women is increasing globally. With many having complex health and social backgrounds, incarceration provides opportunities for health interventions, including the chance to have their nutritional needs met. Despite the additional nutritional requirements of pregnancy being well documented, how these are being met within the correctional setting is currently poorly understood. Methods: A scoping review of the literature was conducted to identify the literature published between January 2010 and April 2023 related to the provision of nutrition for pregnant women in the international prison systems. Sixteen papers met the criteria for inclusion in the review. The relevant key findings were charted and thematically analysed. Results: Two themes were identified: ‘the inconsistent reality of food provision’ and ‘choice, autonomy and food’. There is a clear disparity in the way in which diet is prioritised and provided to pregnant incarcerated women across several countries. Discussion: The findings highlight the need for a consistent approach to diet on a macro, global level to ensure the health of women and their infants in context.Peer reviewe

Children's Book Review: Parental Incarceration

This is a reviewed list of children's books that address the topic of parental incarceration. This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu.This is a reviewed list of children's books that address the topic of parental incarceration. These books were reviewed and rated (1-5 stars) for content related to parental incarceration, availability, and affordability by a group of fourteen students representing multiple disciplines (e.g., child psychology, family social sciences, sociology, public health women’s studies) under the direction of Dr. Rebecca Shlafer, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota ([email protected]). The review process was informed by an examination of book lists created by other organizations and agencies and the use of an online retailer. With the exception of a few chapter books, each book was independently read and reviewed by two reviewers combined into one review; recommended ages and ratings were averaged across reviewers

Hydrogen peroxide generation by mitochondria isolated from regionally ischemic and nonischemic dog myocardium

We occluded the left anterior descending coronary artery of anesthetized, open-chest dogs, for 1 or 2 h. Some hearts were reperfused for 1 h after 1 h of ischemia. We isolated mitochondria from the central ischemic zone (CIZ) and a surrounding nonischemic zone (NIZ) of the left ventricle, and assayed H 2 O 2 production using a horseradish peroxidase-dual wavelength spectrophotometric technique. Mitochondria, studied in the absence of exogenous respiratory chain inhibitors, generated H 2 O 2 during State 4 respiration with succinate as the substrate. NIZ mitochondria in all groups produced ca. 1.5 nmols H 2 O 2 /min/mg protein (no significant differences between groups). The State 4 O 2 consumption rates of NIZ mitochondria from hearts subjected to 1 h ischemia plus reperfusion, or 2 h of ischemia (ca. 30 nmols/min/mg) were significantly higher than that of NIZ mitochondria of hearts subjected to only 1 h of ischemia (23 nmols/min/mg). Thus, the ratio between H 2 O 2 produced and State 4 O 2 consumption fell from 6.5% to 5%. Mitochondria from all CIZ samples had State 4 O 2 consumption rates that were not different from corresponding NIZ values. However CIZ mitochondria of hearts subjected to 1 h ischemia without reperfusion produced less H 2 O 2 (1.1±0.1 nmols/min/mg), and had a slightly reduced H 2 O 2 /O 2 ratio (4.4±0.7%), compared with their NIZ samples (1.5±0.1 nmols/min/mg; 5.3%). Reperfusion after 1 h of ischemia abolished these regional differences. The CIZ mitochondria from hearts subjected to 2 h ischemia produced only 0.75±0.22 nmols H 2 O 2 /min/mg (2.5% of State 4 O 2 consumption). These values were 50% of corresponding NIZ values, and were significantly less than for any other group or tissue region. If similar phenomena occur in conscious animals subjected to incomplete regional ischemia, especially of relatively brief duration or if accompanied by reduced intracellular defenses against oxidants such as H 2 O 2 , they suggest that mitochondria persist as H 2 O 2 sources and so may contribute to the oxidant load and myocardial dysfunction.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41749/1/395_2005_Article_BF01907125.pd