“Maybe it'll take my mind off the situation”: Emotional stressors, coping, and social support for African-American women with incarcerated partners

Disparate arrest and sentencing practices have created an era of mass incarceration, particularly for African-American men. This mass incarceration reverberates through communities: at arrest, approximately 50% of men are in a committed heterosexual relationship. Thus, it is important to identify mass incarceration's indirect effects. In this analysis, we sought to identify unique emotional stressors, coping strategies, and support sources for African-American women with incarcerated partners.

African-American women (N=32) with recently incarcerated male partners were recruited into this longitudinal qualitative study. We created a sample in which approximately half were alcohol or drug misusers. Each participant took part in four one-on-one semi-structured interviews over a year; the first two waves of data were analyzed here. Grounded theory was used to analyze stressors, coping strategies, and support sources.

Preliminary analyses suggest female partners may be subjected to stress from increased financial burdens, increased parental responsibilities, housing shifts, and difficulties maintaining a long-distance relationship with their partners. However because of fear of incarceration-related stigma, many women turn away from family, friends, and other support sources. Instead, they might utilize other strategies to get through this difficult period, including abusing drugs and turning to their faith. Further analysis will examine processes that promote/discourage the adoption of different coping behaviors.

Also, preliminary analyses suggest that the months following a partner's incarceration are a period of significant stress, though most women in our sample did not seek support. New programs are needed that provide financial, emotional, and instrumental support to women immediately after a partner's incarceration.