2.

1 Operational Definition of Variables Coping to deal or handle a difficult situation effectively Separation from children the parting of a parent to the children Children of incarcerated children whose parents are in jail Incarceration imprisonment, confinement 2.2 Methods The researcher used a qualitative design in this study. An in-depth interview was conducted to 37 incarcerated mothers (20 were in pretrial detention in the county jail of a large Northeastern city and 17 were inmates in a Northeastern state prison), and 37 mothers awaiting trial at home. There are a total of 74 participants; the sample includes 55 Black, 12 White and 7 Latino mothers. The respondents who are recruited for the study all had at least one child aged between 8 and 18 years. Those in the pretrial groups and those who are at home awaiting trial were recruited for the purpose of observing mother-child relationships prior to incarceration, while the prison sample was recruited in order to have a deeper understanding regarding the consequences of longterm separation from children. The researchers used the grounded theory technique to let coping categories emerge. The sampling method used by the researcher was purposive sampling technique.

2.3 Results Based on the interviews conducted, the researcher found out that the average age of the mothers is 34 and a mean number of 3 children each. The educational attainment was also asked by the researcher and found out that 30% of the respondents only completed 10th grade and below, 31% finished 11th grade, 25% were able to reach 12th grade, 13% were able to go to college and 1% was unknown. Regarding the marital status, 44% of them were single, 15% are separated/divorced, 14% married, 13% common law, 4% are widowed and 10% is unknown. Nearly all of the participants are only incarcerated once. Charges of the incarcerated are also given importance, 24% were charged with drug possession or sale, 24% assault, 9% are thief, 7% charged with robbery, 31% are others and 6% are not known. 28% of the participants have no problem with alcohol use, 18% are current sporadic use, 20% are past alcohol dependent, 11% are past sporadic and 23% are not known. 18% of the participants have no problem with drug use, 1% is currently sporadic, 11% is currently dependent, 55% were past dependent, 7% were past sporadic and another 7% is not known. 14% of the respondents have current partner who is also in prison, 27% have self-reported

history of mental health related problems, 30% were abused as a child and 46% experienced domestic violence. The analysis uncovered seven techniques that incarcerated mother and mothers who were awaiting trial employed to cope with the problems that arises from actual or pending separation from their children: 100% of the mothers employed the being a good mother strategy, 41% were dissociating from prisoner identity, 95% maintains relationship through mothering from prison technique, 49% of them were redefining their role as a mother (role reversal), 88% resolves to change behavior and life-style with the self-transformation strategy, 100% employs planning and preparation were in they make decision about future, and 59% of the mothers blames themselves for separation from children.