| In the U.S., parental incarceration (PI) has been increasingly recognized as an understudied adverse childhood experience. In response, a rapidly expanding body of research has begun to investigate the effects of PI on youth health outcomes since more than half of U.S. prisoners are parents of minor children. Studies have found that children exposed to PI are more likely to experience numerous economic, educational, and behavioral difficulties, as well as poor physical and mental health across the life course. However, a paucity of research exists on the pathways through which exposure to PI affects these outcomes as well as on the potential buffers that may mitigate this risk. Guided by the Ecobiodevelopmental and Bioecological Model of Human Development frameworks, the aims of this study include examining 1) the associations between PI and mental health outcomes (attention, externalizing, internalizing, and total behavioral problems) 2) the extent to which chronic physiologic stress (hair cortisol concentration (HCC)) mediates the relationship between exposure to PI and mental health outcomes and 3) whether sociospatial buffers (collective efficacy measured via activity space, (CE)) moderate the relationship between PI and mental health behaviors.;An observational and cross-sectional design was employed for this dissertation utilizing secondary data from Wave 1 of two linked studies, the Adolescent Health and Development in Context (Browning, 1R01DA032371) and Linking Biological and Social Pathways to Adolescent Health and Well-Being (Ford, 1R21DA034960). Analyses included linear multivariable regression modeling including moderating and mediating analyses in order to examine the aims of this dissertation. The analytic sample was drawn from a racially and socioeconomic representative subsample of 613 urban adolescents ages 11 to 17 years. After controlling for a demographics of the youth and socioeconomic characteristics, youth exposed to PI had worse mental health outcomes in comparison to their unexposed peers. However, this effect did not remain significant once total number of adverse childhood exposures was included into the model. In this sample, HCC did not mediate the relationship between youth exposed to PI on mental health difficulties. In addition, CE did not buffer the relationship between youth exposed to PI in comparison to those unexposed. In conclusion, exposure to PI can be viewed as a marker of accumulative risk for intervention since youth impacted by PI are more likely to experience cumulative disadvantage and have more behavioral difficulties, above and beyond, socioeconomic characteristics. Although this study was unable to demonstrate the role of HPA dysregulation and social support on mental health difficulties of youth exposed to PI, it provides a foundation to guide future research examining biosocial linkages between adverse childhood exposures on mental health difficulties. |
