Collateral Consequences: How Students Perceive Peers with an Incarcerated Parent

Parental incarceration is a significant issue that impacts millions of children in the United States,leading to adverse effects on their behavioral, educational, and psychological well-being. Despitegrowing self-reports on the stigma faced by children of incarcerated parents, little is knownabout the biases held by their peers, particularly among university students. This studyinvestigates bias against classmates experiencing parental incarceration and examines how thesebiases vary based on the severity of the crime committed by the parent (violent vs. non-violentvs. non-incarcerated absent parent) and the parental role (mother vs. father). A sample ofuniversity students (ages 18-25) was recruited from the University of Maryland’s SONA systemand randomly assigned to read one of six vignettes describing a hypothetical classmate whoseparent (mother or father) was either incarcerated for a violent crime, incarcerated for a non-violent crime, or not incarcerated but absent for unspecified reasons. Participants then completedmeasures assessing their biases toward their classmates. Results revealed that students exhibitedsignificantly greater bias toward classmates with a parent incarcerated for a violent crimecompared to those with an absent but non-incarcerated parent. However, no significantdifferences in bias were found against classmates regarding their parent’s role (father or mother).These findings highlight the potential stigma associated with parental incarceration in highereducation settings and emphasize the need for further research that explores the differences inbias across race and different family structures (such as a two-parent household vs anincarcerated parent). Further research, along with this study, will help inform advocacy andawareness efforts in educational institutions, as well as guide the implementation of the bestsupports for children of incarcerated parents.