The Causal Effect of Paternal Incarceration and Children’s Problem Behavior

• In Event: New Frontiers in the Research on the Consequences of Paternal Incarceration

Abstract

In this study, we show that paternal incarceration increases children’s risk of receiving medical treatment for behavioral problems. Utilizing a policy-experiment that introduced a noncustodial alternative to incarceration (community service) for offenders sentenced for a number of criminal offenses, we show that when courts sentence fathers to community service instead of incarceration, boy children had lower risk of receiving medical treatment for ADHD. Complimentary, we also reproduce previous findings on the effect of fathers’ community service on children’s risk of entering foster care and being charged with a crime, both outcomes that has been shown also to be causally affected by behavioral problems. Jointly, our results indicate that parental incarceration has a direct effect on children’s behavioral problems, indicating it is a central mechanism in explaining the causal link between father’s incarcerations and children’s crime and foster care entry. We end by discussing the theoretical implications of our findings.

Authors

• Signe Hald Andersen, Rockwool Foundation

• Peter Fallesen, Stockholm University and Rockwool Foundation

• Christopher Wildeman, Cornell University and Rockwool Foundation