The Consequences of Incarceration for Parents and Children.

Research on the consequences of incarceration has emerged as an important field of study as a result of historically high incarceration rates in the United States. Analysts are just beginning to asses the impact of incarceration on children and the field is currently characterized by more questions than answers. This paper examines the impact of parental incarceration on the status attainment and well-being of their children. Though much research has examined the impact of parental criminality on children, few analyses exist that link parental punishment to outcomes for children. The paper first develops a conceptual framework for analyzing the effect of parental punishment on children and test these proposition on a sample of young adolescents. Then, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, this paper answers three questions: (1) How many children have experienced the incarceration of one or both parents? (2) What are the short and long-term consequences of parental incarceration for children? (3) What are the major mechanisms through which incarceration influences parent-child relationships? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]