Differences in Occupational Attainment for Children of the Incarcerated at the Intersection of Race and Gender

• In Event: Children of Incarcerated Parents

Abstract

Approximately 2.5 million children have a parent serving time in jail and prison. Recent research demonstrates the negative and intergenerational impacts on families with incarcerated family members. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), I examine the impacts of having an incarcerated parent on occupational attainment, with a specific focus on how race and gender may interact to affect the job opportunities of these children. Using structural equation modeling, I find that the impacts of incarceration, race, and gender, have both direct and indirect effects on a child’s future occupational attainment. I also find these effects to be amplified when intersectionality is accounted for in the models. I then discuss the policy implications of these findings, and the importance of social networks in a child’s life.

Author

• Craig Wiernik, Wilkes University