Moral Cognition Among and About Children of Incarcerated Parents

Abstract: One out of every 28 children in the United States has an incarcerated parent, but psychology has not focused on understanding these children's experiences. I will present research using moral psychology as a framework for understanding these experiences. In Part I, we interviewed children about their relationship with their incarcerated parent. Because cultural messages about incarcerated individuals are predominantly negative, one possibility is that children in this group would have negative responses to their parent. However, we found that children of incarcerated parents -- like their peers whose parents were not incarcerated -- reported overwhelmingly more positive rather than negative responses. In Part II, we turned to the question of how other people respond to children of incarcerated parents, showing negative moral evaluations and reduced generosity from peers. Although children of incarcerated parents reported relatively favorable responses to others (Part I), their peers viewed them more negatively (Part II). These findings extend work on moral cognition and offer translational implications for reducing the negativity that children of incarcerated parents face from others.