Incapacitated Involvement: Incarceration and Fatherhood in Fragile Families at Year 9

• In Event: Consequences of Parental Incarceration for Children and Families

Abstract

This study uses the most recent wave of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N= 1,588) to expand our knowledge about the impact of paternal incarceration on fathering in three specific ways: 1) we update prior studies by exploring father’s involvement with children in middle childhood, 2) in addition to fathers’ economic contributions, we assess how paternal incarceration influences children’s own assessments of their relationships with their fathers, and 3) we examine the extent to which we observe similar reports of father involvement across multiple respondents (i.e. mothers, children and fathers themselves). Results from propensity score and multivariate models indicate that paternal incarceration is associated with decreased father involvement for children in middle childhood. This finding holds across both forms of involvement examined and is robust across multiple respondents’ reports of fathering. Implications for research and policy regarding incarcerees’ families and children are discussed.

Authors

• Heather M. Washington, University at Albany, SUNY

• Shao-Chiu Juan, University at Albany, SUNY

• Anna R. Haskins, Cornell University

• Nicole Jackson, University at Albany, SUNY