Parental incarceration and the social-emotional health and development of children

项目总结/摘要 重要性：大约7%的美国儿童和近四分之一的黑人儿童将经历 父母在18岁之前被监禁，使他们面临更大的社会情感发展不良的风险。 以政策为基础的解决办法，提高刑事司法系统所涉家庭的经济福祉 可能为改善儿童福利提供了希望。有犯罪记录的人不太可能被雇用， 他们通常为低工资和低福利工作。因此，有犯罪记录的父母可能会更少 帮助他们建立孩子的福利。一些州采取了限制 在招聘过程中如何考虑犯罪记录。保护性就业政策可以改善 通过增加父亲的就业，改善父亲有犯罪记录的儿童的社会情感健康 通过减少对有记录的人的污名化来改善父亲的抑郁症。 具体目标：该项目将（1）确定国家一级就业政策对社会的影响， 父亲有犯罪记录的儿童的情感幸福感;（2）评估父亲的就业状况 和抑郁症作为潜在的机制，通过国家一级的就业政策影响儿童， 父亲是否有犯罪记录，以及（3）评估州一级就业政策的影响如何因种族而异。 方法：拟议的分析将利用两个来源的数据：（1）脆弱家庭和儿童 一项针对美国20个大城市的低收入儿童及其大多数未婚父母的出生队列研究， 以及（2）关于有犯罪记录的人所面临的法律的障碍的国家级政策信息。以考虑 分层设计（嵌套在国家内的家庭），该分析将使用混合效应线性回归， 模拟就业政策对儿童福祉的影响。将使用基于回归的中介分析 为了测试潜在的中介者，将使用分层分析来评估按种族划分的不同政策效果。 奖学金信息：申请人是明尼苏达大学流行病学博士生， 在NICHD资助的T32培训计划在人口健康科学博士前实习生。通过 课程和指导政策评估，犯罪学，和心理健康沿着指导， 交流发现和写作补助金，拟议的培训计划将建立在贝瑞女士现有的 研究技能。这项培训将提高她完成论文研究的能力，并成为一名 独立的社会流行病学研究员，专门研究社会政策对儿童健康的影响。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Significance: Approximately 7% of all US children—and nearly a quarter of Black children—will experience parental incarceration before age 18, placing them at an increased risk of poor social-emotional development. Policy-based solutions that increase the economic wellbeing of families involved in the criminal justice system may offer promise for improving child wellbeing. Individuals with criminal records are less likely to be hired and often work for lower wages and fewer benefits. As a result, parents with criminal records may have fewer resources to contribute to establishing their children’s wellbeing. Some states have adopted policies that limit how criminal records are considered during hiring processes. Protective employment policies could improve the social-emotional health of children whose fathers have criminal records by increasing paternal employment prospects and by improving paternal depression via reduced stigmatization of people with records. Specific Aims: This project will (1) identify the impact of state-level employment policies on the social- emotional wellbeing of children whose fathers have criminal records, (2) evaluate father’s employment status and depression as potential mechanisms through which state-level employment policies affect children whose fathers have criminal records, and (3) assess how the impact of state-level employment policies differs by race. Approach: The proposed analysis will leverage data from two sources: (1) the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort of low-income children in 20 large US cities and their mostly unmarried parents, and (2) state-level policy information on legal barriers faced by people with criminal records. To account for the hierarchical design (families nested within states), this analysis will use mixed effects linear regressions to model the impact of employment policy on child wellbeing. Regression-based mediation analyses will be used to test potential mediators and stratified analyses will be used to evaluate differential policy effects by race. Fellowship Information: The applicant is a PhD student in Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and a predoctoral trainee on the NICHD-funded T32 training program in Population Health Science. Through coursework and mentoring on policy evaluation, criminology, and mental health along with guidance on communicating findings and writing grants, the proposed training plan will build on Ms. Berry’s existing research skills. This training will enhance her ability to complete her dissertation research and become an independent social epidemiology researcher with expertise on the impact of social policy on child health.