Babies Having Babies: Incarcerated Adolescent Parents and Their Emotional Well-Being

• Published date: 01 January 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/15412040231191725
• Author: Brae Young,Brie Diamond
• Date: 01 January 2024
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

2024, Vol. 22(1) 3–21

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/15412040231191725

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Babies Having Babies:

Incarcerated Adolescent

Parents and Their Emotional

Well-Being

Brae Youngand Brie Diamond

Abstract

Adolescent parents have been the subject of scrutiny for decades, with a great deal of research

focused on how these young parents adjust to their new roles. There is one group of adolescent

parents about which we know next to nothing, though: incarcerated adolescent parents. To f‌ill

this gap, the current study examines whether parental status affects the emotiona l well-being (e.g.,

mental health diagnoses and suicidal tendencies) of incarcerated adolescent parents. We also

consider whether these effects are gendered. Results suggest that adolescent parents, especially

young mothers, have worsened mental health during incarceration. This effect was most pro-

nounced for suicidal tendencies. These results underscore the importance of providing additional

supports for young parents within juvenile facilities. Doing so could not only improve the safety

and security of these conf‌inement facilities but improve the long-term outcomes of these young

parents and their offspring.

Keywords

adolescent parents, juvenile justice, mental health, suicide, incarcerated youth

Introduction

Teen pregnancy and birth rates are currently at an all-time low (Livingston & Thomas, 2019).

Compared to mid-20

th

century birth rates of 95 per 1,000, today adolescent birth rates are around

17 births per 1,000—a decline of over 80% (Livingston & Thomas, 2019). Experts attribute this

downward trend to higher abstinence rates, greater access to pregnancy prevention information,

and better contraceptive use among adolescents (Amba & Martinez, 2017;Livingston & Thomas,

2019). Even still, the consequences associated with adolescent parenthood continue to raise

concerns and for good reason. Research f‌inds that adolescent parents face a host of problems: they

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Brae Young, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Texas Christian University, 2855 Main Drive, Fort Worth,

TX 76109, USA.

Email: brae.young@tcu.edu

are more likely to drop out of school, experience greater health problems, have weakened

employment prospects, and have increased stress and anxiety (Hoffman, 2008;Patel & Sen, 2012;

Perez-Brena et al., 2020;Perper et al., 2010).

Unfortunately, for adolescent parents involved in the justice system, these adversities might be

compounded. For these adolescents, the stressors of being a young parent exist while they face

another source of strain: conf‌inement. These dual stressors might be emotionally taxing. Research

on incarcerated adults f‌inds that parents often experience sadness for missing out on key stages of

their children’s lives, worry over their child seeing them while they are incarcerated, and

frustration if their child does not visit (Arditti & Few, 2008;Hairston, 2003;Houck & Loper,

2002). As a result, mental health problems, like depression are common among incarcerated

parents (Turney et al., 2012;Turney & Wildeman, 2015;Wiemann et al., 2005). Some studies

estimate that incarcerated parents are twice as likely to experience depression during conf‌inement

than non-parents (Turney & Wildeman, 2015). The concern is that widespread mental health

problems could threaten the safety and security of these facilities and the well-being of the family

and community after release (Houser et al., 2012;Loper et al., 2009;Steiner et al., 2014;Wallace

& Wang, 2020).

The problem, however, is that nearly all research on the experiences of incarcerated parents has

been conducted on adults (for exceptions see: Nurse, 2001,2002;Shannon & Abrams, 2007). We

currently have little understanding of how adolescent parents fare during conf‌inement. Yet, this is

an important line of inquiry. For one, adolescents are an emotionally vulnerable group. The

average teen is still developing skills that could be useful in coping with being incarcerated or

being a teenage parent (Arain et al., 2013;Cohen et al., 2016;Hartshorne & Germine, 2015), and

they therefore might struggle more with incarceration than their adult counterparts. This group of

parents are also solidly within the age-crime curve, and experiences during this time—including

their emotional well-being—could determine whether they continue engaging in criminal be-

havior. If we are to help justice system involved parents be law-abiding citizens and effective

parents, we need to better understand the emotional challenges they face.

Accordingly, the goal of the current study is to better understand the emotional well-being of

adolescent parents during conf‌inement. More specif‌ically, using a large, diverse sample of in-

carcerated youth from Florida, this paper determines whether parental status affects youths’

emotional well-being shortly after conf‌inement. Here, emotional well-being is captured as mood

disorders (i.e., depression), anxiety, and suicidal tendencies. We also consider whether these

effects are gendered. In doing so, we aim to provide a better understanding of the experiences of

incarcerated adolescent mothers—a group traditionally neglected in the small body of work in this

area (Nurse, 2001,2002;Shannon & Abrams, 2007). To this end, this paper represents the f‌irst

quantitative assessment of incarcerated adolescent parents and is an important step towards

understanding the unique needs of this population, generally, as well as for males and females

individually. This research is conducted with the hope of enhancing the future outcomes of

incarcerated adolescent parents and their young offspring.

Background

Adolescent Parenthood

Though adolescent birth rates have experienced a substantial decline in recent decades, scholars

continue to note the challenges that young parents face. Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood

places teenage parents—particularly mothers—at a disadvantage across numerous indicators

including increased risk of dropping out of school and lower earning potential (Gigante et al.,

2018;Perper et al., 2010;Serbin et al., 2010). Young parents also experience emotional diff‌iculties

4Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 22(1)