"Stand by my man”: Better understanding African-American women's motivations for maintaining relationships with incarcerated partners

One out of nine African-American men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, resulting in many African-American women losing their partner to incarceration. Research suggests that partner incarceration may contribute to partner concurrency; however, factors motivating women's decisions to remain in relationships with incarcerated partners have not been studied. This research seeks to understand what influences women to remain in these often emotionally and financially difficult relationships. African-American women with recently incarcerated male partners were recruited into this longitudinal, qualitative study. Four one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted over a year to explore changes over time in key processes. Grounded theory was used to analyze women's relationship choices after their partner's incarceration (N=32; interviews and analyses ongoing). Preliminary analyses identified many reasons women remain in romantic relationships with incarcerated partners. Individual reasons included love and commitment, obligation to children and personal satisfaction from having the strength to remain together. Women also reported external motivations including social pressure from partner's family, friends, or their broader community to demonstrate they were “the type of woman who will stay” or to prove the strength of their relationship.These findings suggest there is social and familial pressure for women to remain in relationships with incarcerated partners. This pressure may restrict their ability to form new relationships or result in guilt or shame over decisions to end relationships. Future research should explore how these social norms influence women's choices and impact physical and mental health outcomes.