Paternal Incarceration and Mental Health and Behavioral Problems

Abstract

This chapter estimates the consequences of paternal incarceration for childhood well-being, broadly defined as children’s internalizing, externalizing, physically aggressive, and total behavioral problems. Especially at the extreme end of the continuum and for the most disadvantaged children, mental health and behavioral problems are strong predictors of crime and delinquency, educational and occupational attainment, and family formation later in the life course. By focusing on these types of problems, therefore, we provide indirect evidence concerning the long-term consequences of paternal incarceration for the children of the prison boom. The chapter also includes a lengthy discussion of the multiple ways to estimate incarceration effects, focusing on issues of selection bias and spuriousness. The estimates show that, even after substantial sample selectivity issues are accounted for, paternal incarceration increases all forms of children’s mental health and behavioral problems.