Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Incarcerated Fathers

Implications for Father Involvement

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Father Involvement in Young Children’s Lives

Part of the book series: Educating the Young Child ((EDYC,volume 6))

Abstract

In the United States, father’s incarceration has become an increasingly common event in the lives of children, impacting an estimated 1.5 million children annually, or about 13 % of all persons at some point in their childhood. Father’s incarceration is associated with a wide range of adverse outcomes in childhood and adolescence, including: externalizing behavior, depression, drug use, and poor educational outcomes. In this chapter, we review trends in father’s incarceration, differences across subgroups of the population, and discuss its consequences for father involvement and child outcomes. We also discuss the policy and practice implications of existing research in the field.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allen, S., & Hawkins, A. (1999). Maternal gate-keeping: Mothers’ beliefs and behaviors that inhibit greater father involvement in family work. Journal of Marriage and Family, 61, 199–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, J. (2009). Intergenerational transmission of abuse of incarcerated fathers: A study of the measurement of abuse. Journal of Family Issues, 30, 371–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, B. (1995). Public Policy and the children of incarcerated parents. In K. Gabel and D. Johnston (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents (pp.21–30). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonczar, T. (2003). Prevalence of imprisonment in the U.S. population, 1974–2001. Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boswell, G., & Wedge, P. (2003). Imprisoned fathers and their children. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braman, D. (2004). Doing time on the outside: Incarceration and family life in urban America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, J. (2001). Prison nursery 2000: A five-year review of the prison nursery at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 33, 75–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clear, T. (2007). Imprisoning communities: How mass incarceration makes disadvantaged neighborhoods worse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Clear, T., Rose, D., Waring, E., & Scully K. (2003). Coercive mobility and crime: A preliminary examination of concentrated incarceration and social disorganization. Justice Quarterly, 20, 33–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M., & and Piquero, A. (2009). New evidence on the monetary value of saving a high risk youth. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 25, 25–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, P. (2005). Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender, and the new racism. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, P., Holzer, H., & Offner, P. (2006). Reconnecting disadvantaged young men. Washington: The Urban Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edin, K., Nelson, T., & Paranal, R. (2004). Fatherhood and incarceration as potential turning points in the criminal careers of unskilled men. In M. Pattillo, F. Weiman, and B. Western (Eds.), Imprisoning America (pp.46–75). Thousand Oaks: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagan, J, & Barnett, M. (2003). The relationship between maternal gatekeeping, paternal competence, mothers’ attitudes about the father role, and father involvement. Journal of Family Issues, 24, 1020–1043.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Festen, M., Waul, M., Solomon, A., & Travis, J. (2002). From prison to home: The effect of incarceration and reentry on children, families and communities. Conference report. Washington: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, H. and Hagan, J. (2007). Incarceration and intergenerational social exclusion. Social Problems, 54, 399–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, S., & Esselstyn, T. (1965). The adjustment of children of jail inmates. Federal Probation, 29, 55–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, D. (2001). The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, R., Widom, C., Browne, K., Fergusson, D., Webb, E., & Janson, S. (2009). Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. Lancet, 373, 68–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giordano, P. (2010). Legacies of crime: A follow-up of the children of highly delinquent girls and boys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Giordano, P., Manning, W., Longmore, M., & Seffrin, P. (2006, Aug). Parental criminality as victimization: A follow-up of the children of serious female and male adolescent offenders. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Montreal, Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giordano, P., Schroeder, R., & Cernkovich, S. (2007). Emotions and crime over the life course: A neo-Meadian perspective on criminal continuity and change. American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1603–1661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaze, L., & Maruschak, M. (2008). Parents in prison and their minor children. Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=823 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottfredson, M., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottschalk, M. (2006). The prison and the gallows: The politics of mass incarceration in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griswold, E., & Pearson, J. (2003). Twelve reasons for collaboration between departments of correction and child-support enforcement agencies. Corrections Today, 65, 87–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagan, J., & Dinovitzer, R. (1999). Collateral consequences of imprisonment for children, communities, and prisoners. Crime and Justice, 26, 121–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagan, J., & Palloni, A. (1990). The social reproduction of a criminal class in working class London, circa 1950–80. American Journal of Sociology, 96, 265–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hairston, C. (1998). The forgotten parent: Understanding the forces that influence incarcerated fathers’ relationships with their children. Child Welfare, 77, 617–639.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hairston, C. (2001). Fathers in prison: Responsible fatherhood and responsible public policies. Marriage and Family Review, 32, 111–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hairston, C. F., Bates, R., & Lawrence-Wills, S. (2003). Serving incarcerated mothers and their babies in community-based residences. Chicago: Jane Addams College of Social Work, Jane Addams Center for Social Policy and Research .

    Google Scholar 

  • Haney, C. (2001). The psychological impact of incarceration: Implications for post-prison adjustment. Santa Cruz: University of California. Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/search/hsp/prison2home02/Haney.htm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman-Stahl, M., Kan, M., & McKay, T. (2008). Incarceration and the family: A review of research and promising approaches for serving fathers and families. Raleigh: RTI International. Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/MFS-IP/Incarceration&Family/index.shtml.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ichikawa, J., & Selby, P. (2009). Children of prisoners empowered for success (COPES) (Final evaluation report). Seattle: The Casey Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/pdf/ChildrenOfPrisonersReport.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaffee, S., Moffitt, T, Caspi, A., & Taylor, A. (2003). Life with (or without) father: The benefits of living with two biological parents depend on the father’s antisocial behavior. Child Development, 74, 109–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, E., & Waldfogel, J. (2004). Children of incarcerated parents: Multiple risks and children’s living arrangements. In M. Pattillo, F. Weiman, and B. Western (Eds.), Imprisoning America (pp.97–134). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, D., & Gabel, K. (1995). Incarcerated parents. In K. Gabel and D. Johnston (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents (pp.3–21). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jose-Kampfner, C. (1995). Post-traumatic stress reactions of children of imprisoned mothers. In K. Gabel and D. Johnston (Eds.), Children of incarcerated parents (pp.89–100). New York: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langan, P., & Levin, D. (2002). Recidivism in prisoners released in 1994. Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCorkle, R. (1992). Personal precautions to violence in prison. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 19, 160–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKay, T., Bir, A., Lindquist, C., Corwin, E. Herman-Stahl, M., & McDonald, H. (2009). The national evaluation of the responsible fatherhood, marriage, and family strengthening grants for incarcerated and re-entering fathers and their partners. Raleigh, NC: RTI International. Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/MFS-IP/Partners/rb.shtml.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauer, M. (2003). Race to incarcerate. New York: New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mumola, C. (2000). Incarcerated parents and their children. Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mumola, C. (2006, Nov). Children of parents in the criminal justice system: Children at risk. Paper presented at the research meeting of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA. North Bethesda, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muennig, P., Schweinhart, L., Montie, J., & Neidell, M. (2009). The effect of a pre-kindergarten education intervention on adult health: 40-year follow-up results of a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 1431–1437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, J., & Farrington, D. (2008). Effects of parental imprisonment on children. Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, 37, 133–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, J., Farrington, D., Sekol, I., & Olsen, R. (2009). Effects of parental imprisonment on child antisocial behaviour and mental health: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 4. Retrieved from http://campbellcollaboration.org/lib/download/683/.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesmith, A., & Ruhland, E. (2008). Children of incarcerated parents: Challenges and resiliency, in their own words. Children and Youth Services Review, 30, 1119–1130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nurse, A. (2002). Fatherhood arrested: Parenting from within the juvenile justice system. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nurse, A. (2004). Returning to strangers: Newly paroled young fathers and their children. In M. Pattillo, D. Weiman, and B. Western (Ed.), Imprisoning America (pp.76–96). Thousand Oaks: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osgood, D., & Anderson, A. (2004). Unstructured socializing and rates of delinquency. Criminology, 42, 519–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osgood, D., Wilson, J., Bachman, J., O’Malley, P., & Johnston, L. (1996). Routine activities and individual deviant behavior. American Sociological Review, 61, 635–655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pager, D. (2003). The mark of a criminal record. American Journal of Sociology, 108, 937–975.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pager, D. (2007). Marked: Race, crime, and finding work in an era of mass incarceration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pager, D., Western, B., & Bonikowski, B. (2009). Discrimination in low-wage labor markets. American Sociological Review, 74, 777–799.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pettit, B., & Western, B. (2004). Mass imprisonment and the life course: race and class inequality in U.S. incarceration. American Sociological Review, 69, 151–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, S., Erkanli, A., Keeler, G., Costello, E.J., & Angold, A. (2006). The wrong road: Efforts to understand the effects of parental crime and incarceration. Criminology and Public Policy, 5, 703–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roettger, M., Swisher, R., Kuhl, D., & Chavez, J. (in press). Paternal incarceration and altered trajectories of marijuana and hard drug use from adolescence into adulthood: Evidence from national panels of U.S. males and females. Addiction .

    Google Scholar 

  • Roy, K., & Burton, L. (2007). Mothering through recruitment: Kinscription of non-residential fathers and father figures in low-income families. Family Relations, 56, 24–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, K., & Dyson, O. (2005). Gatekeeping in context: Babymama drama and the involvement of incarcerated fathers. Fathering, 3, 289–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (2003). Life-course desisters? Trajectories of crime among delinquent boys followed to age 70. Criminology, 41, 555–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sapsford, R. (1978). Life sentence prisoners: Psychological changes during sentence. British Journal of Criminology, 18, 128–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schweinhart, L., Barnes, H., & Weikart, D. (1993). Significant benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study through age 27. Ypsilanti: High/Scope Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, J. (2008). Governing through crime: How the war on crime transformed American democracy and created a culture of fear. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanton, A. (1980). When mothers go to jail. Lexington: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swisher, R., & Roettger, M. (2010). Racial variation in the associations of paternal incarceration and trajectories of depression and delinquency among young adults. (Working paper). National Center for Family and Marriage Research, Bowling Green State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swisher, R., & Waller, M. (2008). Confining fatherhood: Incarceration and paternal involvement among unmarried white, African American, and Latino fathers. Journal of Family Issues, 29, 1067–1088.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sykes, G. (1971). The society of captives: A study of a maximum security prison. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornberry, T. (2005). Explaining multiple patterns of offending across the life and course and across generations. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 602, 156–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornberry, T. (2009). The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree (or does it?): Intergenerational patterns of antisocial behaviors. Criminology, 47, 297–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornberry, T., Freeman-Gallant, A., Lizotte, A., Krohn, M., & Smith, X. (2003). Linked lives: The intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 171–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trinder, L. (2008). Maternal gate closing and gate opening in post-divorce families. Journal of Family Issues, 29, 1298–1324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wacquant, L. (2007). Urban outcasts: A comparative sociology of advanced marginality. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Western, B, Lopoo, L., & McLanahan, S. (2004). Incarceration and the bonds between parents in fragile families. In M. Pattillo, F. Weiman, and B. Western (Eds.), Imprisoning America (pp.21–45). New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Western, B., & Pettit, B. (2005). Black-white wage inequality, employment rates, and incarceration. American Journal of Sociology, 111, 553–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Western, B., & Wildeman, C. (2009). The black family and mass incarceration. Annals of the American Academy of Social and Political Science, 621, 221–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Widom, C. (1989). The cycle of violence. Science, 244, 160–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wildeman, C. (2009). Parental imprisonment, the prison boom, and the concentration of childhood disadvantage. Demography, 46, 265–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wildeman, C. (2010). Imprisonment and infant mortality. Lexington: Presentation at the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wildeman, C. (in press). Paternal incarceration and children’s physically aggressive behaviors: Evidence from the fragile families and child wellbeing study. Social Forces .

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. (1996). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. (2003). The woes of the inner-city African American father. In O. Clayton, R. Mincy, and D. Blankenhorn (Eds.), Black fathers in contemporary society (pp.9–30). New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prevention Research Center, Pennsylvania State University, 316D Biobehavioral Health Building, 16801, University Park, PA, USA

    Michael E. Roettger

  2. Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, 48303, OH, USA

    Raymond R. Swisher

Authors
  1. Michael E. Roettger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Raymond R. Swisher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael E. Roettger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Teacher Education, California State University, Bellflower Boulevard 1250, Long Beach, 90840-2201, California, USA

    Jyotsna Pattnaik

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Roettger, M., Swisher, R. (2013). Incarcerated Fathers. In: Pattnaik, J. (eds) Father Involvement in Young Children’s Lives. Educating the Young Child, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5155-2_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation