Families and Imprisonment Research Study, 2018-2019

Lanskey, Caroline and Lösel, Friedrich and Markson, Lucy and Souza, Karen and Ellis, Sophie and Barton-Crosby, Jennifer (2021). Families and Imprisonment Research Study, 2018-2019. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-853942

The proposed research investigated processes of resilience in families who experienced the imprisonment of the father. Building on a unique data set from an earlier longitudinal study which gathered information from prisoners, their (ex)partners and children during and after imprisonment, this study examined individual and family-wide coping processes and experiences of social (re)integration approximately six years after the father's release from prison. In contrast to much existing research, the study put particular emphasis on protective functions of family relationships and support networks in the face of multiple risks to well-being (e.g. criminal behaviour, health problems, alcohol and drug misuse, school or employment problems, and social disintegration). The data have been used in part to further develop a family-oriented process model of resilience that can inform social policy and practice.

Data description (abstract)

The Families and Imprisonment Research Study (FAIR) comprises the third wave of data collection from a prospective longitudinal mixed methods study of families who experienced paternal imprisonment 6-8 years previously (at the first wave of data collection). Interviews, including standardised measures, were held with 32 fathers, 36 mothers and 42 children from 41 families, to capture post-release experiences and outcomes. Topics covered included accommodation; employment/education/training; social relationships; family life; child adjustment; health; leisure; community involvement; criminal activity; coping; support; effects of imprisonment and goals/hopes for the future. Data are included for 16 fathers and 27 mothers who consented to data sharing. Interview data from children are not included, however parental reports on 71 children are available in the parents' data files.
Consent:
For the parents and children aged over 18, consent was sought verbally and confirmed by signing a written consent form. Consent could be given for any or all of the following: taking part in the study; being audio recorded and sharing data via UKDS. For the children aged under 18, parental consent was sought initially from the primary caregiver and confirmed via their own consent form. The children themselves were then asked for consent to take part (and/or be audio recorded) and signed or stamped their own consent form. Age-appropriate language and documentation were used for different age groups (4-7; 8-11 and 12-17).
Data Entry:
Data were entered into SPSS by four members of the research team. Quantitative data consist of participant responses from a pre-defined list of questions. Qualitative data consist of notes made by the interviewer from participant responses to open-ended questions. Following initial data entry, the data were cleaned by two members of the research team who resolved coding inconsistencies, identified and amended gaps/errors and cross-checked each other's work.
Anonymisation:
Each participant has a unique ID number that was used in replacement of their name in all documentation and data files except the database used to manage participant details and the consent forms, which contained both unique ID numbers and names/signatures. In the qualitative responses within the SPSS files, if participants referred to another research participant (e.g. a mother referring to her child), this was substituted with the respective participant’s own unique ID number. This helped to keep track of family relationships. If participants referred to an individual not in the study, the individual’s name was substituted for their relationship to the participant (e.g. [brother], [friend]). Due to the sensitivity of the research topic, locations were also anonymised. Current places of imprisonment or residence were substituted with [current prison] and [current location] respectively. Previous places of imprisonment/residence were substituted in chronological order (e.g. [previouslocation1], [previous location2]. Data were not originally entered in an anonymised form for analytical reasons. Anonymisation of the data files was first undertaken by a research assistant and then cross-checked by senior members of the research team.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Lanskey Caroline	University of Cambridge	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4866-4191
Lösel Friedrich	University of Cambridge	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5461-3003
Markson Lucy	University of Cambridge	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5901-9345
Souza Karen	University of Cambridge	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0520-4905
Ellis Sophie	University of Cambridge	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1100-072X
Barton-Crosby Jennifer	University of Cambridge	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8254-9907

Sponsors:

Economic and Social Research Council

Grant reference:

ES/P009700/1

Topic classification:

Law, crime and legal systems
Social welfare policy and systems
Psychology

Keywords:

FAMILIES, IMPRISONMENT, QUALITY OF LIFE, FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Project title:

Long-term coping in families of released prisoners: a study of individual and family resilience

Alternative title:

FAIR

Grant holders:

Caroline Lanskey, Friedrich Lösel

Project dates:

From	To
1 August 2017	30 September 2019

Date published:

09 Jun 2021 16:08

Last modified:

09 Jun 2021 16:08

Coverage and Methodology

Temporal coverage:

From	To
1 January 2011	4 August 2019

Collection period:

Date from:	Date to:
12 February 2018	4 August 2019

Geographical area:

UK-wide but primarily in London/surrounding areas and East of England

Country:

United Kingdom

Data collection method:

Members of 41 families were recruited from the East of England and London/surrounding areas. Within each family, the father had experienced a period of imprisonment of up to six years. The parents were either in a romantic relationship or co-parenting relationship at the first wave of data collection (which took place in 2009/10). The shared data comprises only the third wave of data collection and therefore some families no longer define themselves as a unit. However they are referred to as ‘families’ for analytical purposes.

Participants in the third wave of data collection were interviewed in person either at home or in a public place. Incarcerated participants were interviewed in prison. Interviews lasted 60-120 minutes and involved the administration of a semi-structured interview schedule followed by a series of standardised measures which the participant either completed independently or had items read out to them if they preferred.

Observation unit:

Individual, Family, Time unit

Kind of data:

Numeric, Text

Type of data:

Cohort and longitudinal studies, Qualitative and mixed methods data

Resource language:

English

Access and Administration

Data sourcing, processing and preparation:

Two csv files are included. One contains fathers’ data and one contains mothers’ data. Each data file contains responses to all the interview questions and the standardised measures administered. The measures administered were: Family Problem Solving Communication (McCubbin, McCubbin, & Thompson, 1996) General Health Questionnaire – 12 (Goldberg, 1978) Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) Subscales: Friend and Family Stigma (Link, Struening, Rahav, Phelan, & Nuttbrock, 1997) Subscale: Rejection Experiences Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Impact Supplement (Goodman, 1997) Note that although the original sample consisted of 32 fathers, 36 mothers and 42 children from 41 families, not all consented to data sharing. Of the adults, 16 fathers and 27 mothers consented to data sharing. These are included. We did not ask consent for data sharing from interviewed children aged under 18 for vulnerability related reasons. Of the five interviewed children aged over 18, three consented to data sharing. We did not think this file was useful for data sharing due to the small sample size, so it is not included. However, note that information on 71 children was supplied by the parents and is contained within the parents’ data files. Data is provided in .csv format, however researchers with access to SPSS who would like a version of the data containing variable and valuable labels are encouraged to get in touch.

Rights owners:

Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Lanskey Caroline	University of Cambridge	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4866-4191

Contact:

Name	Email	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Lanskey, Caroline	cml29@cam.ac.uk	University of Cambridge	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4866-4191

Notes on access:

The Data Collection is available for download to users registered with the UK Data Service. All requests are subject to the permission of the data owner or his/her nominee. Please email the contact person for this data collection to request permission to access the data, explaining your reason for wanting access to the data, then contact our Access Helpdesk.

Publisher:

UK Data Service

Last modified:

09 Jun 2021 16:08