University of Mary Washington Assistant Professor of Psychology Virginia Mackintosh says no youngsters are more at risk than the children of incarcerated women. Mackintosh discusses her extensive work with these youth and their mothers during an interview airing on the “With Good Reason” public radio program beginning Saturday, April 30.
Mackintosh’s interview can be heard on April 30 at 4:30 p.m. on WCVE 88.9 FM and on Monday, May 2 at 12:30 a.m. on WAMU 88.5 FM. The program, “Behind Bars,” is expected to be available online beginning Friday, April 29 at http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2011/04/behind-bars.
Most incarcerated women are single mothers—and the sole financial providers of one or more youngsters, says Mackintosh, who has taught a parenting course for mothers in prison and who leads UMW students in a one-week summer camp for the children left behind.
No public agency tracks this sharply increasing yet under-recognized population of about 200,000 youngsters, and resources are scarce for their caregivers, Mackintosh says. Incarcerated mothers mostly have committed crimes tied to drug addiction—possession, distribution, robbery, prostitution. Prior to a mother’s arrest, children have lived in unstable homes amid chronic poverty, parental drug use, violence and crime. Besides the trauma of a mother’s imprisonment, children may face a succession of caregivers, homes and schools, with emotional or psychological problems often the result.
Surprisingly, Mackintosh’s work has revealed that some youths show remarkable resiliency, growing up healthy and overcoming a stress-ridden period of life. Much credit goes to kin caregivers such as grandmothers, aunts and older sisters who take in the children and try to provide warmth and stability—sometimes at great personal cost.
Mackintosh teaches an experiential learning course that allows UMW students to mentor these children during a weeklong summer residential camp. Also, Mackintosh has taught parenting classes in Virginia prisons to men and especially women, who as inmates often have steadier interaction with their children than following their release. The classes train parents to stay in contact, repair past mistakes and build positive relationships with their children and the caregivers raising them.
In general, Mackintosh’s research interests have included how families cope with various risks. In addition to working with the offspring of incarcerated mothers, she has researched families of children with autism and how they handle choosing from the wide range of largely untested treatment options. Most recently, she has branched into the study of the stories that women tell about menarche—their first menstrual period.
Mackintosh earned a Ph.D. and a Master of Science degree in developmental psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
“With Good Reason” is the only statewide public radio program in Virginia. It hosts scholars from Virginia’s public universities who discuss the latest in research, pressing social issues and the curious and whimsical. “With Good Reason” is produced for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in partnership with public radio stations in Virginia and Washington, D.C.