Even Wonder Woman Couldn’t Do It All: The Impacts of Superwoman Syndrome on Women with Incarcerated Partners

نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسندگان

1 Ph.D Candidate, Division of Psychology and Counseling, Governors State University, Illinois, USA

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, Illinois, USA

3 Masters Graduate, Teacher’s College, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

چکیده

Incarceration affects approximately 2 million individuals, with about half the male population reporting they are in an intimate relationship; causing non-incarcerated partners to experience various stressors and challenges. Specific to women, there is a phenomenon called “Superwoman Syndrome,” which refers to various the roles women take on such as caregiver, partner, career woman, and breadwinner. This may lead to higher rates of stress and dissatisfaction, decreased family functioning, and dysfunctional patterns. This can also exacerbate feelings of resentment, dissatisfaction, and inundation, proliferating into negative feelings towards the family unit. Partner incarceration can exasperate these impacts, leading to higher rates of stress and other mental health concerns. Our goal is to address the lacunae in literature regarding the social, emotional, financial, and systemic needs of females with incarcerated partners, through advocacy of policy changes. Further, empirical exploration and research into this population can help to mitigate some of the negative effects, and produce better outcomes for both individual women, and their families.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات


عنوان مقاله [English]

Even Wonder Woman Couldn’t Do It All: The Impacts of Superwoman Syndrome on Women with Incarcerated Partners

نویسندگان [English]

  • Alexis Gregorash 1
  • Eman Tadros 2
  • Anha Jhuremalani 3
1 Ph.D Candidate, Division of Psychology and Counseling, Governors State University, Illinois, USA
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, Illinois, USA
3 Masters Graduate, Teacher’s College, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
چکیده [English]

Incarceration affects approximately 2 million individuals, with about half the male population reporting they are in an intimate relationship; causing non-incarcerated partners to experience various stressors and challenges. Specific to women, there is a phenomenon called “Superwoman Syndrome,” which refers to various the roles women take on such as caregiver, partner, career woman, and breadwinner. This may lead to higher rates of stress and dissatisfaction, decreased family functioning, and dysfunctional patterns. This can also exacerbate feelings of resentment, dissatisfaction, and inundation, proliferating into negative feelings towards the family unit. Partner incarceration can exasperate these impacts, leading to higher rates of stress and other mental health concerns. Our goal is to address the lacunae in literature regarding the social, emotional, financial, and systemic needs of females with incarcerated partners, through advocacy of policy changes. Further, empirical exploration and research into this population can help to mitigate some of the negative effects, and produce better outcomes for both individual women, and their families.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • incarceration
  • superwoman syndrome
  • race
  • mental health
Abrams, J. A., Maxwell, M., Pope, M., & Belgrave, F. Z. (2014). Carrying the world with the grace of a lady and the grit of a warrior: Deepening our understanding of the “Strong Black Woman” schema. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 38(4), 503–518. https://doi./10.1177/0361684314541418.
Arditti, J. A. (2003). Locked doors and glass walls: Family visiting at a local jail. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 8(2), 115-138. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325020305864.
Arditti, J. A., Lambert-Shute, J. & Joest, K. (2003). Saturday morning at the jail: Implications of incarceration for families and children. Family Relations, 52, 195–204.
Arditti, J. A. (2012). Child trauma within the context of parental incarceration: A family process perspective. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 4(3), 181-219.
American Psychological Association (n.d.). Superwoman syndrome. APA dictionary of 
psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/superwoman-syndrome.
Beckmeyer, J., & Arditti, J. (2014). Implications of in-person visits for incarcerated parents’ family relationships and parenting experience. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 53(2), 129. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2013.868390
Blankenship, K. M., Del Rio Gonzalez, A. M., Keenec, D. E., Grovesd, A. K., Rosenberg, A. P. (2018). Mass incarceration, race inequality, and health: Expanding concepts and assessing impacts on well-being. Social Science & Medicine, 215, 45-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.08.042
Bruns, A. (2019). The third shift: Multiple job holding and the incarceration of women’s partners. Social Science Research, 80, 202–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.12.024.
Bruns, A. (2020). Partner incarceration and financial support from kin. Journal of Family Issues, 41(11), 2112-2135. https://doi./10.117 7/0192513X20910168.
Charles, P., Muentner, L., & Jensen, S. (2021). Incarcerated during a pandemic: Implications of COVID-19 for jailed individuals and their families. Corrections, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2021.2011803
Charles, P., Muentner, L., & Kjellstrand, J. (2019). Parenting and incarceration: Perspectives on father-child involvement during reentry from prison. Social Service Review, 93(2), 218-261.
 Chui, W. H. (2010). ‘Pains of imprisonment’: Narratives of the women partners and children of the incarcerated. Child & Family Social Work, 15(2), 196-205.
Cochran, J. C., Mears, D. P., & Bales, W. D. (2017). Who gets visited in prison? Individual- and community-level disparities in inmate visitation experiences. Crime & Delinquency, 63, 545-568. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128714542503
Datchi, C. C., Barretti, L. M., & Thompson, C. M. (2016). Family services in adult detention centers: Systemic principles for prisoner reentry. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 5(2), 89–104. https://doi.org /10.1037/cfp0000057
Evertsson, M., & Nermo, M. (2007). Changing resources and the division of housework: A longitudinal study of Swedish couples. European Sociological Review, 23(4), 455-470. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcm018
Federal Bureau of Prisons (2022). Inmate gender [Infographic]. BOP.gov. https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_gender.jsp.
Geller, A., Garfinkel, I., & Western, B. (2011). Paternal incarceration and support for children in fragile families. Demography, 48(1), 25-47.
Glaze, L., & Maruschak, L. (2008). Parents in prison and their minor children. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. https://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pptmc.pdf.
Glaze, L. E. (2010). Correctional populations in the United States. Department of Justice. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus10.pdf.
Gupta, S., & Ash, M. (2008).  Whose money, whose time? A nonparametric approach to modeling time spent on housework in the United States, Feminist Economics,14(1), 93-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545700701716664.
Haight, W., Kayama, M., & Gibson, P. A. (2016). Out-of-school suspensions of black youths: Culture, ability, disability, gender, and perspective. Social Work, 61(3), 235–243. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/sww021.
Hanlon, T. E., Carswell, S. B., & Rose, M. (2007). Research on the caretaking of children of parents in prison: Findings and their service delivery implications. Children and Youth Services Review, 29, 348–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2006.09.001.
Hare-Mustin, R. T. (1984). A feminist approach to family therapy. Family Process, 17, 181-194.
Herrera, R. S., & DelCampo, R. L. (1995). Beyond the superwoman syndrome: Work, satisfaction and family functioning among working-class Mexican American women. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 17(1), 49–60.
Harman, J. J., Smith, V. E., & Egan, L. C. (2007). The impact of incarceration on intimate relationships. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34(6), 794-815. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854807299543
Lee, J. J. H., Guilamo-Ramos, V., Muñoz-Laboy, M., Lotz, K., & Bornheimer, L. (2016). Mechanisms of familial influence on reentry among formerly incarcerated Latino men. Social Work, 61(3), 199-207. https://doi/10.1093/sw/sww023
Lindquist, C. H., McKay, T., & Bir, A. (2020). Lessons from the multi-site family study of incarceration, parenting, and partnering. Handbook on Moving Corrections and Sentencing Forward, 187-215.
Loper, A. B., Phillips, V., Nichols, E. B., & Dallaire, D. H. (2014). Characteristics and effects of the co-parenting alliance between incarcerated parents and child caregivers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(2), 225-241. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-012-9709-7.
Lopoo, L. M., & Western, B. (2005). Incarceration and the formation and stability of marital unions. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67(3), 721-734.
Nellis, A. (2016). The color of justice: Racial and ethnic disparity in state prisons. The Sentencing Project. https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/ color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons/.
Newell, S. (1993). The superwoman syndrome: Gender differences in attitudes towards equal opportunities at work and towards domestic responsibilities at home. Work, Employment & Society, 7(2), 275–289.
Nitsche, N., & Grunow, D. (2016). Housework over the course of relationships: Gender ideology, resources, and the division of housework from a growth curve perspective. Advances in Life Course Research, 29, 80-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2016.02.001
Poehlmann, J. (2005) Incarcerated mothers’ contact with children, perceived family relationships, and depressive symptoms. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 350–357.
Provencher, A., & Conway, J. M. (2019). Health effects of family member incarceration in the United States: A meta-analysis and cost study. Children and Youth Services Review, 103, 87–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.05.029.
Roettger, M. E., & Boardman, J. D. (2012). Parental incarceration and gender-based risks for increased body mass index: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States. American Journal of Epidemiology, 175(7), 636–644.
Schwartz-Soicher, O., Geller, A., & Garfinkel, I. (2011). The effect of paternal incarceration on material hardship. Social Service Review, 85(3), 447-473. https://doi.org/10.1086/661925.
Sumra, M. K., & Schillaci, M. A. (2015). Stress and the multiple-role woman: Taking a closer look at the “superwoman.” PLOS ONE, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120952.
Tadros, E., & Ansell, A. (2022). Romantic attachment, childhood stability, depression, and PTSD in couples with an incarcerated partner. Journal of Forensic Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14976
Tadros, E. & Durante, K. (2022). Coparenting, negative educational outcomes, and familial instability in justice-involved families. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 66(2), 267–287. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211013740
Tadros, E., Durante, K. A., McKay, T., & Hollie, B. (2022). Coparenting from prison: An examination of incarcerated fathers' consensus of coparenting. American Journal of Family Therapy, 50(3), 314-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2021.1913669
Tadros, E., Durante, K., McKay, T., Barbini, M., & Hollie, B. (2022). Mental health, perceived consensus of coparenting, and physical health among incarcerated fathers and their non-incarcerated, romantic partners. Families, Systems & Health, online first publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2021.1913669.
Tadros, E., Fanning, K., Jensen, S., & Poehlmann-Tynan, J. (2021). Coparenting and mental health in families with jailed parents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(16), 8705. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168705.
Tadros, E., & Finney, N. (2019). Exploring the utilization of structural and medical family therapy with an incarcerated mother living with HIV. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 63(4). https://doiorg/10.1177/0306 624X18821825.
Tadros, E., & Finney, N. (2018). Structural family therapy with incarcerated families. Family Journal, 26(2), 253-261. https://doi-org/10.1177/1066480718777409.
Tadros, E., Fye, J., & Ray, A. (2020). The lived experience of sisters with an incarcerated brother: A phenomenological study. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology, 64(4), 335-354. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X19877598
Tadros, E. & Ogden, T. E. (2020). Conceptualizing incarcerated coparenting through a structural family theory lens. Marriage & Family Review, 56(6), 535-552. https://doi-org/10.1080/01494929.2020.1728007.
Tadros, E., Presley, S., & Gomez, E. (2022). “Not for the weak”: The lived experience of women in romantic relationships with incarcerated individuals. Crime & Delinquency, online advance publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287221077657
Tasca, M. (2016). The gatekeepers of contact: Child–caregiver dyads and parental prison visitation. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 43(6), 739-758. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854815613528.
Temple, L. L., & Colletto, K. (1988). The division of labor in the home: Who is doing the work? Division of Labor, 1-14. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED299518.pdf.
Tyler, E. T., & Brockmann, B. (2017). Returning home: Incarceration, reentry, stigma and the perpetuation of racial and socioeconomic health inequity. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 45(4), 545-557.
Umamaheswar, J. & Tadros, E. (2021). “Anybody can be father, but not anybody can be a Dad.” Fathering and the intergenerational transmission of masculinity among incarcerated men. Crime & Delinquency, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287211047531.
Wagner, P., & Sawyer, W. (2020). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020. https://raceandpolicing.issuelab.org/resource/mass-incarceration-the-whole-pie-2020.html
Wildeman, C., Goldman, A. W., Lee, H., Bui, J., Wendt, M., & Bakos, A. (2019). Health consequences of family member incarceration for adults in the household. Public Health Reports, 134, 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033354918807974.
Wildeman, C., & Western, B. (2010). Incarceration in fragile families. The Future of Children, 1, 157-77. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ901827.pdf.