Abstract
We draw on structured data collected in connection with a three-generation study of a large heterogenous sample of youth to further develop our life-course perspective on parental incarceration and other family-based sources of risk and resilience. Whereas prior studies have inadequately accounted for negative dynamics connected to parents’ antisociality and problem behaviors, we uncover key differences in parents’ levels of crime, substance use, intimate partner violence, and parenting strategies among those with and without a history of incarceration. Looking beyond the parent-child dyad, we also identify important differences in youths’ broader social networks, including problem alcohol and drug use, mental health problems, criminal justice involvement, and employment difficulties among associates both within and outside the home. Despite this general portrait of greater social and economic disadvantage, we did find evidence of family-based strengths or resilience, as children exposed to parental incarceration fared better when they were also exposed to more positive parenting practices. We discuss the implications of approaches that similarly consider incarceration in tandem with other ongoing family experiences and dynamics for research, theorizing, and programmatic responses.
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Notes
- 1.
An exception would be in cases of the wrongfully accused.
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Acknowledgements
This project was supported by the National Science Foundation (Award No. 1558755), the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice (Award No. 2016-IJ-CX-0012), and in part by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD050959). The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the National Science Foundation, Department of Justice, or National Institutes of Health.
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Copp, J., Giordano, P., Manning, W., Longmore, M. (2022). Parental Incarceration and Other Family-Based Risks. In: Glick, J.E., King, V., McHale, S.M. (eds) Parent-Child Separation. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87759-0_6
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