Comparing Criminal Outcomes for Adult Children of Incarcerated Fathers and Mothers: An Extension of Dallaire (2007)

• In Event: The Impact of Incarceration on Pregnancy and Parenting

Abstract

A large sociological and criminological literature focuses on the differential impacts of maternal and paternal incarceration. Although many earlier works argued that maternal incarceration negatively impacts children without exception, recent research suggests children of incarcerated mothers are likely to experience unchanged—or improved—conditions after their mothers’ arrest. Since incarcerated mothers often struggle with multiple barriers to family stability (e.g., history of abuse, illegal drug use, etc.), their children likely transition to alternative caregiving arrangements prior to mothers’ arrest. Using the 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities, we reexamine the findings of an article, which suggested adult children of incarcerated mothers with adult children (n=325) were 2.5 times more likely to be incarcerated as compared to those of incarcerated fathers with adult children (n=1,104). Our reanalysis controls for refined predictor variables and increases the sample to also include 945 incarcerated parents who have both adult and minor children. Results suggest the original research design suffered from selection bias, as omitted incarcerated mothers (n=177) were significantly less likely to report adult child incarceration as opposed to mothers in the original sample. Further, omitted mothers were not significantly more likely than omitted fathers to report adult child incarceration.

Authors

• Jeannie M. Hahl, University of Michigan

• Richard J. Harris, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Juanita M. Firestone, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Leanne F. Alarid, University of Texas at El Paso