Parental practices under the perspective of incarcerated fathers

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the perception of parenting practices before and during the incarceration of men deprived of liberty. Fifty-seven men aged between 22 and 61 years (M = 36.16; SD = 8.44) participated in the study, with family income of one to two minimum wages (31.6%), did not complete elementary school (54.4%), were married (73.7%), and had two or more children (73.7%) aged 4 to 16 years. They answered socio-demographic questions and the Parenting Practices Inventory (PPI) for conditions in liberty and in prison. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, mean comparison tests and Pearson correlation. Regarding their condition of imprisonment, there was a significant reduction in scores of parental practices of “Discipline”, “Education” and “Social”, but not in “Affection”. The scores for “Discipline” for conditions in liberty and in prison showed a strong correlation. The implications of these results are discussed, limitations and future directions are also indicated.