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Parental Incarceration and Institutional Avoidance During the Transition to Adulthood: Criminal Justice Contact or Family Dynamics?

Sun, August 12, 8:30 to 10:10am, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Floor: Level 4, 413

Abstract

According to a large and vibrant literature, parental incarceration reduces a range of material, social, emotional, and psychological resources for children. It is less clear, however, whether (and how) parental incarceration affects children’s behavior towards societal institutions. These behaviors may be particularly consequential during the transition to adulthood, when young men and women must engage institutional settings to reach significant developmental milestones. Using National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health data, we examine whether parental incarceration is associated with avoidance in a number of domains, including banking, medical, labor market, civil/social, and religious institutional settings. After establishing that parental incarceration is associated with institutional avoidance, we find that young adult’s own criminal contact, more than the household institutional dynamics during childhood, explains why children who experience parental incarceration are more likely to avoid institutional settings compared to those who never experience parental incarceration.

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