Developmental delays and psychiatric diagnoses are elevated in offspring staying in prisons with their mothers

The aim of the study was to describe the sociodemographic and clinical features of the mothers and their offspring staying with them in prison. The study was planned as a cross-sectional, single-center study of mothers residing in Tarsus Closed Women’s Prison of Turkish Ministry of Justice along with their 0 to 6 years old offspring. Mothers were evaluated via Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. A psychologist blind to maternal evaluations applied the Denver Developmental Screening Test II (DII-DST). Children/mothers were also evaluated by a child and adolescent psychiatrist via K-SADS-PL. Twenty-four mothers with a mean age of 29.3 years were included. Most common diagnoses in mothers were nicotine abuse (n = 17, 70.8%), specific phobia (n = 8, 33.3%), alcohol abuse (n = 7, 29.2%) and substance abuse (n = 5, 20.8%). Twenty-six children (53.9% female) were living with their mothers in prison, and the mean age of those was 26.3 months. Results of the D-II-DST were abnormal in 33.3% of the children. Most common diagnoses in children were adjustment disorder (n = 7, 26.9%) separation anxiety disorder (n = 3, 11.5%) and conduct disorder (n = 2, 7.7%). A multi-center study is necessary to reach that neglected/under-served population and address the inter-generational transmission of abuse, neglect, and psychopathology.