Partner Incarceration and Maternal Substance Use: Investigating the Mediating Effects of Social Support and Neighborhood Cohesion

Abstract

Introduction: The United States is responsible for the highest rate of incarceration globally. The impacts of incarceration extend beyond those incarcerated and can result in adverse outcomes for chosen romantic or life partners and the family unit. This study aimed to explore the impact of partner incarceration on maternal substance use and whether the relationship between partner incarceration and maternal substance use is mediated by financial support, emergency social support, or neighborhood cohesion. Methods: Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal cohort following new parents and children, this analysis quantifies the relationship between paternal incarceration and maternal substance use (N=2246). Responses from mothers at years 3 (2001-2003), 5 (2003-2006), 9 (2007-2010), and 15 (2014-2017) were assessed, restricted to mothers who responded across waves. The exposure, partner incarceration, was operationalized as mothers reporting their current partner or child’s father to be ever incarcerated at year 3. The outcome, substance use in the past year (yes vs. no), was assessed at each time point. Respondents were asked whether they used marijuana, sedatives, tranquilizers, amphetamines, prescription painkillers, inhalants, cocaine, hallucinogens, or heroin. Three mediators were investigated at years 5 and 9: neighborhood cohesion, financial support, and emergency social support. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to construct support-related mediators. Counting on someone to loan $200, providing a temporary place to stay, and providing emergency childcare were hypothesized to load onto one factor (emergency social support) and counting on someone to loan $1000, co-sign a bank loan for $1000 and co-sign a bank loan for $5000 were hypothesized to load onto a separate factor (financial support). Items were weighted by factor loadings and responses were summed to create a scale for financial support and emergency social support, with a higher score denoting greater degree of support. Impact of partner incarceration and maternal substance use was modeled using multilevel modeling to account for repeated measures, adjusting for appropriate confounders (age of mother at child’s birth, race, education, employment, and history of intimate partner violence). Results: Nearly half (42.7%, N=958) of participants reported partner incarceration. Among mothers who described partner incarceration, the odds of reporting substance use are 96% (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR]: 1.96; 95% Confidence Interval (CI):1.56-2.46) greater in comparison to those who reported no partner incarceration. Financial support at year 5 mediated 17% of the relationship between partner incarceration at year 3 and substance use at year 9 (p-value = 0.006); financial support at year 9 was not a significant mediator of the relationship between partner incarceration at year 3 and substance use at year 15. Neither emergency social support nor neighborhood cohesion were significant mediators at either year 5 or year 9. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that partner incarceration impacts maternal substance use. Financial support acts as a partial mediator in the short term, which has important implications for families disrupted by mass incarceration.