The Impact of Parental Incarceration on Adulthood Outcomes: A Propensity Score Approach

• In Event: The Impact of Parental Incarceration on Children's Offending and Incarceration

Abstract

Extensive empirical evidence has demonstrated that offspring of incarcerated parents tend to exhibit increased antisocial behaviors, criminal justice outcomes in adulthood, and poor mental health outcomes compared to youths who have not experienced parental incarceration. However, many studies also find that the impact of parental incarceration diminishes or disappears when contemporaneous factors and other variables that predispose youths to such negative outcomes are taken into account. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study uses propensity score methods to control for selection bias in order to more precisely examine the effect that experiencing a parent’s incarceration has on offspring’s future adulthood outcomes.

Authors

• John Michael Eassey, University of Florida

• Molly Buchanan, University of Florida