Presenter: Julia Rehmann – Family and Human Services, Psychology
Faculty Mentor(s): Abbie Sanders, Jean Kjellstrand
Session: (Virtual) Poster Presentation
Children with an incarcerated parent are three to four times as likely to engage in delinquent behavior and two and a half times as likely to have mental health problems when compared to children without an incarcerated parent. As soon as fourth grade, gender differences emerge between externalizing and internalizing symptoms, with girls showing higher rates of internalizing behaviors and boys showing higher rates of externalizing behaviors. Using data drawn from the Linking Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) project, the current study examined the impact of gender on the externalizing and internalizing behavior ratings of fifth-grade students with incarcerated parents (n = 67). Results from an independent samples t-test revealed that scores between male and female students did not significantly differ in externalizing or internalizing behavior ratings. Prior literature had established distinct differences in a general population between externalizing and internalizing behaviors based on sex. In contrast, the findings in this study highlight the need for further examination of how behavior is impacted by parental incarceration.