(Press-News.org) WACO, Texas (June 23, 2023) – Women represent the fastest-growing population in U.S. institutional corrections facilities. In the past four decades, the number of women incarcerated has increased by more than 475%, rising from 26,326 in 1980 to 152,854 in 2020.Because the majority of imprisoned women are mothers, a conservative estimate indicates that at least one million American children have experienced maternal incarceration, and a substantial portion of them are adolescents.
Evidence suggests that maternal incarceration is a risk factor for adolescents’ depression and withdrawal as well as substance abuse and delinquency. However, little work has been done to understand how it affects sleep patterns, dietary behaviors and physical activity.
Because the detrimental effects related to sleep, diet and exercise can be modified, understanding the prevalence of these health risk behaviors is essential to disease prevention in adulthood.
Qianwei Zhao, Ph.D., assistant professor and co-director of the Baylor IMPACT Lab at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University, led a team of researchers to study this issue. Their latest research – Examining the Association between Recent Maternal Incarceration and Adolescents’ Sleep Patterns, Dietary Behaviors, and Physical Activity Involvement – was published in April in Societies, an International, peer-reviewed and open access journal of sociology.
METHOD
Zhao and the research team used a large national dataset – the Fragile Family and Child Wellbeing Study – to examine the prevalence of risk behaviors related to sleep, diet and physical exercise among adolescents with maternal incarceration histories and assess the relationship between maternal incarceration and these behavioral health risks.
“This project builds upon my previous work on the impact of maternal incarceration on adolescent health risk behaviors, which remains an area under-investigated,” Zhao said.
FINDINGS
Using that national dataset to explore The Baylor research found that:
A significantly lower proportion of adolescents with maternal incarceration experiences ate breakfast at least four days a week than those without maternal incarceration experiences.
A significantly higher proportion of them ate fast food for at least two days a week.
A significantly higher proportion of them had at least two sweetened drinks per day.
Adolescents with maternal incarceration experiences reported significantly more days having problems staying asleep per week.
Adolescents with maternal incarceration experiences were significantly more likely to have problems staying asleep than those without maternal incarceration experiences.
IMPLICATIONS
According to Zhao, findings from this study will contribute to the growing literature on the consequences of maternal incarceration on adolescent health risk behaviors and may inform interventions to change their risky behaviors and improve population health.
“It is important to explore policies and programs that can reduce the impact of structural and systemic factors on adolescents with incarcerated mothers, thereby improving healthy youth development,” Zhao said.
While some prior programming has been developed to offer support groups and family skills training for these adolescents and their caregivers, the need continues for more programming focused on diet, exercise and sleep.
For example, additional support for these families might come in the form of nutrition education, access to healthy food through existing school programs, including breakfast during the school year and summer months, case management that links these families to counseling services, food banks or other local nutrition programs, and additional accessible opportunities to become involved in sports or other physical activities.
“It is essential that researchers, scholars and community members advocate for policy changes to fund such programs, given the increasing prevalence of maternal incarceration among adolescents in the U.S.,” Zhao said.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Qianwei Zhao, Ph.D., assistant professor and co-director of the Baylor IMPACT Lab at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University
Ning He, MSW, Silver School of Social Work, New York University
Flor Avellaneda Ph.D., MSW, postdoctoral research associate at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University
Danielle E. Parrish, Ph.D., professor and director of Baylor IMPACT Lab at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.
ABOUT THE DIANA R. GARLAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work is home to one of the leading graduate social work programs in the nation with a research agenda that explores humanity, engages spirituality and promotes equality. Upholding its mission of preparing social workers in a Christian context for worldwide service and leadership, the School offers a baccalaureate degree (BSW); a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree available in Waco or online; three joint-degree options, MSW/MBA, MSW/MDiv and MSW/MTS, through a partnership with Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business and George W. Truett Theological Seminary; and an online Ph.D. program. Visit the School of Social Work website to learn more.
END
Baylor researchers examine relationship between imprisoned mothers and their adolescent children’s risk behaviors
2023-06-23
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
NSF CAREER Awardee develops a 1-minute frailty testing platform
2023-06-23
A layperson might think of “frail” as simply a synonym for “weak” or “fragile.” But in the medical field, frailty is a specific term, meaning – due to factors including inflammation and hormone shifts – a patient has a lack of physiological reserve, or a reduced ability to tolerate stress.
“That stress can be anything from the simple event of falling to getting COVID or another infectious disease,” said Nima Toosizadeh, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and medicine. “Or, it can be a treatment that might be invasive for patients. Knowing who can tolerate the stress is critical.”
It ...
Cancer cell repopulation after therapy: which is the mechanism?
2023-06-23
“Approaches targeted to prevent this post-therapy cancer cell repopulation should be uncovered to prevent tumor relapse and thus increase overall survival from this devastating disease.”
BUFFALO, NY- June 23, 2023 – A new research perspective was published in Oncoscience (Volume 10) on June 1, 2023, entitled, “Cancer cell repopulation after therapy: which is the mechanism?”
The past two decades have brought great progress in the treatment of cancer as patients with the disease live ...
Mario Romero-Ortega to lead Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona
2023-06-23
Mario Romero-Ortega was selected through a nationwide search to head the University of Arizona Department of Biomedical Engineering, beginning with the fall 2023 semester.
“I was drawn by the culture of collaboration, the quality of the students and faculty, and by the unified vision from University of Arizona leadership to impact biomedical engineering and health, from local to global,” he said.
Romero-Ortega will join the College of Engineering from the University of Houston, where he serves in the College of Engineering as a Cullen ...
When majority men respect minority women, groups communicate better
2023-06-23
Kyle Emich, a professor of management at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, along with Rachel Amey and Chad Forbes, then with UD’s Psychology and Brain Sciences Department, were searching for clues about why women’s knowledge often gets ignored in the workplace and how to improve the situation.
Drawing on both a problem-solving group exercise and measurements of brain activity, their findings, now published by the journal Small Group Research, illustrate ways stereotypes and attitudes can ...
Lessons in sustainability, evolution and human adaptation — courtesy of the Holocene
2023-06-23
The El Gigante rockshelter in western Honduras is among only a handful of archaeological sites in the Americas that contain well-preserved botanical remains spanning the last 11,000 years. Considered one of the most important archaeological sites discovered in Central America in the last 40 years, El Gigante was recently nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
“No other location shows, as clearly as El Gigante,” state UNESCO materials about the site’s universal value, “the dynamic character of hunter-gatherer societies, and their adaptive way of life in the Central ...
New study reveals global reservoirs are becoming emptier
2023-06-23
Water is an essential and indispensable component of humanity’s everyday existence. As the global population grows and the climate warms, so does the water demand.
Over the past two decades, global reservoirs have become increasingly empty despite an overall increase in total storage capacity due to the construction of new reservoirs.
Led by Dr. Huilin Gao, associate professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, researchers used a new approach with satellite data to estimate the storage variations ...
Mass General Brigham researchers uncover immune cell marker and regulator of anti-tumor immunity
2023-06-23
B cells are thought to play a critical role in innate and adaptive immunity, but their exact role in anti-tumor immunity remains unknown. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital with expertise in immunology collaborated with experts in dermatology from Massachusetts General Hospital to further understand the role of B cells and identify a subset of cells that may play a critical role. In collaboration with the Broad Institute they used a technique called single-cell profiling, which allows them to look at all the genes ...
MedTech Innovation Forum Leads Day One at TCT 2023
2023-06-23
NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO – June 23, 2023 – Building on the resounding success of last year’s standing-room-only debut, the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) and Fogarty Innovation are proud to present an even more dynamic and comprehensive TCT MedTech Innovation Forum in 2023. The highly anticipated program will feature additional learning tracks, expanded networking opportunities, increased attendee capacity, and the TCT Shark Tank Innovation Competition. The day-long interactive summit will take place on the first day of TCT 2023 (Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics), ...
21st century economic growth will be slower than we thought
2023-06-23
Key takeaways:
A new study suggests global future economic growth will be slower than predicted, with developing nations taking longer to close the wealth gap and approach the income of wealthier nations
Governments need to start planning for slower-growth scenarios, which may involve wealthier nations providing lower-income countries with financing for climate change adaptations
National debt and debt-ceiling talks may become more contentious in the coming decades
The global economy will grow slower in the 21st century ...
New analysis: Kaepernick was denied his “right to work” because he, like other Black male athletes before him, challenged structural racism and white supremacy
2023-06-23
A nascent literature is emerging that analyzes the case of Colin Kaepernick who was “locked out” of the National Football League (NFL) beginning in 2017 because he chose to protest police brutality, systemic racism, and white supremacy. Using status expectations states theory and prototypicality theory, this research re-conceptualizes Kaepernick’s lock-out as an infringement on his right to work. First, researchers utilize a modified case-study approach comparing his experiences to those of six other Black male athletes who were “locked out.” Second, researchers utilize data and “matched cases” to demonstrate empirically ...