Implications of Parental Incarceration for Child Health and Wellbeing

项目总结 拟议的项目将调查监禁母方和父方对 儿童从出生到成年的健康和幸福。迄今为止最严谨的研究 还没有就父母的规模、一致性甚至方向达成共识 监禁的因果影响，特别是对处于高风险环境中的儿童。前期研究 关于经历父母监禁的影响受到截断观察期的限制， 样本消耗率、自我报告的监禁和儿童福利措施，以及缺乏以下方面的数据 刑事指控或监禁本身的背景。相比之下，拟议的研究将 建立两个全州出生队列(2000-2002年出生的儿童和2009-2011年出生的儿童，总计 大约400,000名儿童)，以便对健康和发育进行评估 儿童时期和成年初期。发展领域包括物理领域和 心理健康、认知/教育结果，以及(青春期和成年早期) 怀孕和为人父母、犯罪活动、教育程度和就业/收入。 在目标1中，我们评估了母亲和父亲监禁对儿童健康的影响 从出生到成年早期的幸福感。我们将比较接触过父母的儿童 监禁到普通民众和处于各种反事实条件下的儿童(例如， 父母参与刑事司法系统但未被监禁的儿童)。我们 说明与父母监禁和儿童有关的可观察因素 幸福。我们还利用隔离因果关系的方法(例如，在人内 估计、工具变量)。在目标2中，我们调查了母亲和母亲的贡献 黑人、白人和西班牙裔健康和福祉差异的父亲监禁 关注儿童在社会和经济机会和待遇方面的差异 在刑事司法系统内，这是父母被监禁的机会差异的根源。 最后，在目标3中，我们评估--总体和按种族/族裔--儿童社会地位的作用 母亲或父亲被监禁之前的环境及其环境的变化 在父母监禁期间和之后，解释父母如何以及为谁 监禁可能会影响儿童的健康和福祉。我们考虑了社会的各个方面 包括生活安排的环境(例如，与父母、亲属、寄养家庭) 在父母监禁之前、期间和之后，以及经济资源和 这些环境中的照顾者特征。

PROJECT SUMMARY The proposed project will investigate the impacts of maternal and paternal incarceration on children’s health and wellbeing from birth to young adulthood. The most rigorous studies to date have not yielded a consensus on the magnitude, consistency, or even direction of parental incarceration’s causal effects, particularly for children in high-risk environments. Prior research on the effects of experiencing parental incarceration is limited by truncated observation periods, sample attrition, self-report measures of incarceration and child wellbeing, and lack of data on criminal charges or the context of incarceration itself. In contrast, the proposed study will construct two statewide birth cohorts (children born 2000-2002 and 2009-2011, totaling approximately 400,000 children), allowing for assessment of health and development at all stages of childhood and into early adulthood. Developmental domains include physical and mental health, cognitive/educational outcomes, and (in adolescence and early adulthood) pregnancy and parenthood, criminal activity, educational attainment, and employment/earnings. In Aim 1, we estimate impacts of maternal and paternal incarceration on children’s health and wellbeing from birth through early adulthood. We will compare children exposed to parental incarceration to the general population and to children in various counterfactual conditions (e.g., children whose parents are involved with the criminal justice system but not incarcerated). We account for observable factors that correlate with both parental incarceration and child wellbeing. We also leverage approaches for isolating causal effects (e.g., within-person estimation, instrumental variables). In Aim 2, we investigate the contributions of maternal and paternal incarceration to disparities in health and wellbeing for Black, white and Hispanic children, with attention to the differences in social and economic opportunities and treatment within the criminal justice system that underlie disparities in exposure to parental incarceration. Lastly, in Aim 3, we assess—overall and by race/ethnicity—the role of children’s social environments prior to maternal or paternal incarceration, and changes to their environments during and subsequent to parental incarceration, in explaining how and for whom parental incarceration may impact child health and wellbeing. We consider aspects of the social environment to include living arrangements (e.g., with a parent, with relatives, in foster care) before, during, and after parental incarceration, as well as the economic resources and caregiver characteristics within these environments.