Incarceration as a Risk Factor for Job Conditions and Subsequent Health

• In Event: Integrating Health and Aging into Criminological Inquiry

Abstract

A large body of research demonstrates unfavorable labor market consequences of incarceration. Formerly incarcerated persons are less likely to be employed than similarly situated peers. Among those who are employed, they have lower earnings on average. At the same time, incarceration is associated with worse mental and physical health outcomes. In our study we investigate whether employment, typically a protective factor for health, could play the opposite role among those who have been incarcerated. Given labor market struggles post-imprisonment, we hypothesize that a history of incarceration will be associated with a higher risk of relatively hazardous or risky job conditions. Drawing on longitudinal survey data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we examine the relationship between incarceration and job conditions, as well as whether it mediates any of the relationship between incarceration and health.

Authors

• Lauren C. Porter, University of Maryland

• Sonja Siennick, Florida State University

• Bianca Bersani, University of Maryland