Mothers face lasting financial and emotional hardships when their adult children go to prison.
When an adult child goes to prison, the emotional and financial weight often falls heavily on their mother. The burden of child incarceration is rarely discussed, yet it can shape a mother’s life in lasting ways. New research highlights how this strain is especially tough for Black mothers, whose financial resources are already stretched thin due to longstanding racial wealth gaps.
The study, conducted by Rice University sociologist Brielle Bryan, looks at how a mother’s financial standing is impacted when her child has been incarcerated. Many of these mothers help their children in ways that go far beyond money. They step in to cover rent, legal fees, groceries, transportation, and childcare. They do what they can to keep their children from slipping further into hardship. But these efforts come at a cost, especially for mothers nearing retirement, who have little time to rebuild what they’ve lost.
Using data from a nationwide survey, the study examines how much wealth women lose when their children go through the prison system. While white mothers see larger financial losses in raw numbers due to having more wealth to begin with, Black mothers take the bigger hit proportionally. Already facing financial hurdles, they are more likely to see their savings drained, their homeownership at risk, and their overall stability shaken.
Qualitative research has documented mothers’ critical role in supporting adult children during and after incarceration. Yet, the implications of incarceration for mothers have been relatively unexplored. Wealth research has also largely overlooked th
e influence of adult children on parental wealth. Using linked mother–child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult study, researchers have investigated whether a child’s incarceration influences mothers’ wealth and whether accounting for child incarceration history helps explain the racial wealth gap. An event-study analysis and fixed-effects models were used to assess the evidence that children’s incarceration affects three forms of wealth: financial assets, homeownership, and home equity. Findings show significant relationships between child incarceration and maternal wealth, but the importance of current versus prior child incarceration depends on the type of wealth considered. The financial asset penalty associated with child incarceration is larger in percentage terms for Black women than for White women, further exacerbating financial instability.
The sacrifices these mothers make are often invisible. While discussions around incarceration tend to focus on those behind bars, the impact ripples outward, affecting entire families. Mothers take on emotional stress, juggle extra responsibilities, and stretch their resources in ways that are rarely acknowledged. The weight of this situation isn’t just a personal struggle—it reflects deeper issues in society.
Bryan’s research points to the need for policy changes that go beyond prison reform. Families, especially mothers, need stronger support systems to prevent them from falling into financial ruin when their children are caught up in the justice system. Addressing these challenges means looking at the bigger picture—how incarceration affects not just individuals but the people who stand by them long after they’ve served their time.
Sources:
Study highlights financial and emotional toll on mothers of incarcerated children
Join the conversation!