The Moderating Role of Incarcerated Mothers’ Psychosocial Functioning on the Association Between Maternal Sensitivity and Their Co-Residing Toddlers’ Attachment

• Author: Zülal İşcanoğlu
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221082655
• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Date: 01 October 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2022, Vol. 49, No. 10, October 2022, 1437 –1455.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221082655

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2022 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1437

THE MODERATING ROLE OF INCARCERATED

MOTHERS’ PSYCHOSOCIAL FUNCTIONING ON

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MATERNAL

SENSITIVITY AND THEIR CO-RESIDING

TODDLERS’ ATTACHMENT

ZÜLAL İŞCANOĞLU

Cappadocia University

The role of incarcerated mothers’ caregiving quality on their co-residing children’s development may not be fully understood

without considering mothers’ psychosocial functioning. The current study aims to investigate the moderating role of incarcer-

ated mothers’ psychosocial functioning (i.e., relationship with their outside children’s caregivers, psychological symptoms,

and social support) on the associations between maternal sensitivity and their co-residing children’s attachment. The study

sample consisted of 68 mothers and their 12- to 43-month-old co-residing children. Maternal sensitivity and child’s attach-

ment were assessed based on a semi-structured mother–child interaction observation. Mothers reported their psychosocial

functioning indicators that were determined based on the common distress factors that these mothers experience. Findings

suggest that for the mothers who have the lowest relationship quality with their outside children’s caregivers, maternal sen-

sitivity negatively predicts children’s disorganized attachment. Moreover, maternal sensitivity predicted children’s secure

attachment positively and anxious attachment negatively only when maternal psychological symptoms were higher.

Keywords: parental incarceration; parenting; incarcerated women; protective factors; psychology

Incarceration of women has increased dramatically over the last few decades in Turkey

(Fisher, 2018) as well as in other countries such as the United States (Wakefield & Apel,

2018), with most of the women being the primary or only caregiver of at least one child

(Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). Separation from the primary caregiver has been indicated as a

deleterious experience for children’s later functioning (see Kobak et al., 2016, for a review).

Considering that mothers are more likely the primary caregivers of their children, separa-

tion from their incarcerated mothers has been shown to be highly detrimental to children’s

positive development (Dallaire et al., 2015; Dallaire & Wilson, 2010; Poehlmann, 2005b).

To avoid separating minor children from their primary caregivers, eligible mothers are

AUTHORS’ NOTE: This research was supported by the Society for Research in Child Development under the

Patrice L. Engle Dissertation Grant in Global Early Child Development. There is no known conflict of interest

to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Zülal Işcanoğlu, Faculty of

Humanities, Department of Psychology, Cappadocia University, Ürgüp Nevşehir 50420, Turkey; e-mail: zulal.

iscanoglu@gmail.com

1082655CJBXXX10.1177/00938548221082655Criminal Justice and Behaviorİşcanoğlu

research-article2022

1438 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

allowed to care for their young children in prison facilities in many countries (see Alejos,

2005, for details of policies varying greatly across countries). Turkey is one of those coun-

tries where incarcerated mothers are allowed to co-reside with their children younger than

6 years of age in correctional facilities.

In Turkey, incarcerated mothers and their co-residing children share their rooms with

other women who do not have co-residing children, instead of staying in special mother-

baby units, as is the case in many other countries. In other words, they do not have the

opportunity to reside with their young children in a private room located in a special unit

where they mostly interact with other mothers with co-residing children. Incarcerated moth-

ers residing with their children stated that they experience some relational problems with

other incarcerated women without co-residing children, such as these other women object-

ing to the noise made by the co-residing children (Anaraki & Boostani, 2014). Therefore, it

can be suggested that caring for their co-residing children, while staying with other women

in regular facilities instead of a special mother-baby unit, would create additional distress

for these Turkish mothers. In addition to this specific relational distress experienced by

Turkish incarcerated mothers residing with their children, incarcerated mothers may also

experience tense relationships with the caregivers of their children staying outside. Most

incarcerated mothers with co-residing children may also have additional young children

that they had to be separated from (İşcanoğlu & Uçanok, 2021), and they may perceive that

the caregivers are responsible for their lack of communication and weakened relationships

with their children residing outside (Mignon & Ransford, 2012). In line with these findings,

co-parenting alliance between the incarcerated mothers and their outside children’s caregiv-

ers seems to have important implications for incarcerated mothers’ psychological well-

being (McHale et al., 2013; Mignon & Ransford, 2012; Poehlmann, 2005a). In addition to

these two distress factors related to their co-residing and outside children, incarcerated

women typically experience elevated mental health difficulties along with sadness, hope-

lessness, irritability, and helplessness (Asberg & Renk, 2013; Fedock, 2017; Glaze &

Maruschak, 2008; Poehlmann, 2005a). Therefore, in the current study, these psychological

(i.e., mental health difficulties) and social (i.e., social support from other women that they

are residing with and their relationships with the caregivers of their children residing

outside) distress factors are evaluated as the indicators of these mothers’ psychosocial

functioning.

Secure attachment to the primary caregiver in early years of development may function

as a resilience factor contributing to children’s later social and emotional adjustment (Groh

et al., 2017). The protective role of attachment security and the detrimental role of attach-

ment insecurity was found to be greater for the developmental outcomes of children at high-

risk (Belsky & Fearon, 2002; Graham & Easterbrooks, 2000). Considering that children

with incarcerated parents predominantly come from the most disadvantaged families, there

is a great need for concern regarding the factors explaining their attachment to their moth-

ers. Although maternal sensitive caregiving has been one of the most investigated determi-

nants of children’s attachment security (Ainsworth et al., 2015), there is a dearth of research

investigating the parenting quality of incarcerated mothers to their co-residing children.

Aforementioned distress factors may also impede the supportive role of their sensitive care-

giving on their co-residing children’s development. Accordingly, this study aims to investi-

gate the moderating role of maternal psychosocial functioning on the associations between

maternal sensitive caregiving and their co-residing children’s attachment.