A Longitudinal Examination of Problem Behaviors in Children with Incarcerated Fathers

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Research has found that children with an incarcerated parent are at increased risk for externalizing behaviors (e.g., Murray et al., 2012), which are associated with a plethora of developmental consequences including poorer family functioning (Donenberg & Baker, 1992), less academic achievement (Breslau et al., 2010), and later delinquency (Fergusson & Horwood, 1995). Children of incarcerated parents are likely to experience multiple sources of risk, both general and incarceration-specific, and these incarceration-specific risk experiences uniquely predict externalizing problems in children (Dallaire et al., 2015). Longitudinal studies have found that incarceration before the age of 10 predicts externalizing behaviors in adolescence (Kjellstrand & Eddy, 2011) and adulthood (Murray and Farrington, 2005). The present study builds upon these influential works by considering how paternal incarceration at in early (i.e., 4.5 years) and late (i.e., in 3rd grade) childhood predicts co-occurring externalizing behaviors and externalizing behaviors over time. Utilizing latent growth curve analyses and data from a large, multisite study, we modeled mother-reported problem behaviors from ages 4.5 years to 15 years in children with and without incarcerated fathers. As predicted, on average, externalizing behaviors decreased over time. Initial externalizing behavior levels were associated with behavioral trajectories; individuals with higher scores at 4.5 years saw steeper declines in behaviors over time. We found sex differences in externalizing behaviors with mothers reporting fewer behaviors at 4.5 years for females compared with males. Paternal incarceration at either 4.5 years or in 3rd grade was associated with greater initial levels of externalizing behaviors. Paternal incarceration at 4.5 years, but not in 3rd grade, was associated with co-occurring externalizing behaviors. Paternal incarceration did not predict children’s externalizing behavior trajectories. Results suggest that paternal incarceration has consequences on children’s problem behaviors in early, but not late childhood.

Authors

• Daryl Hesse, University of Kansas
  Presenting Author

• Danielle Horvath Dallaire, Other (The College of William & Mary)
  Non-Presenting Author