Last Night Dad Went to Jail, But School Goes On

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

Several theories imply that experiencing parental incarceration has a negative effect on children’s educational outcomes. However, few studies test the causal effect of parental incarceration on children’s educational outcomes and the link remains ambiguous. This study aims to contribute to this literature by providing evidence on the effects of parental incarceration on children’s school performances that enable causal interpretation using a strong design and high quality data. Using Danish registry and full population data on the Danish National Test, we exploit the variation in the timing of standardized test dates and parental incarceration to compare test scores between children experiencing parental incarceration before the test and children experiencing parental incarceration after the test for different time windows: 7 days, 14 days, 1 month, 3 months, 6 month and 1 year. Preliminary results suggest a null or potentially a small negative effect of parental incarceration on children’s test scores. Additional results indicate that children’s test scores decrease roughly two years before the parental incarceration starts, which might explain the null result.

Authors

• Kira Solveig Larsen, The Danish Center for Social Science Research

• Sara Wakefield, Rutgers University