Incarcerated Mothers and Parenting: an Assessment with the Parental Skills - Interview (APS-I)

Mothers incarcerated with their children constitute a vulnerable population, facing significant risks both due to the inherent challenges of their confinement and the demographic characteristics specific to this group. Various assessment tools exist to examine parenting styles and behaviors in at-risk populations, one of which is the Assessment of Parental Skills-Interview (APS-I). Previous studies using this scale have focused on mothers with children over 3 years old. This study represents the first attempt to compare the parenting abilities of incarcerated mothers with those of mothers from the general population, with children under 3 years of age. We assessed the parenting competencies of 26 women using the APS-I scale, considering sociodemographic variables. The results revealed significant differences between the two groups. The parenting skills of the incarcerated mothers are adequate. An analysis of the three domains of the scale further indicated that empathy is a strong suit among the incarcerated women; variables such as educational attainment and income may influence the partial scores obtained by both groups. The APS-I scale demonstrated its usefulness as a semi-structured tool in the evaluation of parenting skills in incarcertated mothers.