Study of Life Experience of Children and Adolescents in Families with Incarcerated Parent

The present paper is based on a qualitative and phenomenological research aimed at studying the life experience of children and adolescents with incarcerated parent and attempts to identify understanding the consequences of incarcerated parents in the lives of these children. Therefore, in-depth interviews have been conducted with 20 children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 living in Tehran where at least one of their parents was in prison. Research findings indicate that the consequences of parental imprisonment have been identified and categorized in four main categories: family disruption and disturbances, change of normal life, rejection, frustration and despair, as well as stigma. In addition, the findings of this study show that the underlying characteristics of these children and adolescents, such as their age and gender, along with the gender of the imprisoned parents, and the type of crime they committed have an effective role in the life experience of the respondents.