Purpose:  Mothers' involvement in anti-social & illegal behaviors, forced separation from children resulting from incarceration, & assumptions about role modeling & parenting behaviors are seen as negative influences on children.  The increasing number of females entering both the criminal & juvenile justice systems has led some observers to question if daughters are following their mothers to prison.  The scholarly literature on delinquency & adolescent development indicates that adolescent connections to social institutions serve as an important social supports that influence the extent to which youth engage in socially acceptable or deviant behavior.

Methods:  This paper will report the extent of delinquency & antisocial behavior among adolescent daughters of incarcerated mothers, the nature of family, school & community connections, & the relationship between daughter's social connections & participation in delinquent & antisocial behavior. 101 incarcerated mothers at a Midwestern jail completed questionnaires asking about their daughters, aged 10-17, behaviors & activities.  Five indices were constructed to measure antisocial behavior, family, school & community connections.  Girls who had been arrested, charged, convicted or jailed were delinquent.  Girls who were attending school had positive school connections.

Results: The girls had low levels of involvement in antisocial & delinquent behavior.  Higher levels of school & community connections & school attendance were significantly associated w/delinquency.  Higher levels of family connections, as measured by the Mother-Daughter Relationship Index, school connections & school attendance were significantly associated w/low levels of participation in antisocial behavior.  Family connections, as measured by the Maternal Supervision Index, was not significantly associated w/delinquency or antisocial behavior.

Implications for practice: In order to strengthen families, help build strong connections & social supports for girls, & deter girls from participating in antisocial & delinquent activity social workers must advocate for policies & programs both inside correctional institutions & in the community that support parenting, maintaining mother-daughter relationships, helping girls stay in school & community involvement for girls.