The association between parental incarceration and children’s educational outcomes: a systematic review

Aims:The study aimed to investigate the association between parental unemployment and grade point average and school completion in adolescence, and the importance of family cohesion, parental education, and family income in explaining these associations.Methods:Data stem from the Norwegian cross-sectional 2012 youth@hordaland-survey including 8437 adolescents (53.4% girls). Information on grade point average, school completion, parental education, and family income were retrieved from the National Education Database. Parental work status and family cohesion were assessed by adolescent self-report.Results:Adolescents with at least one unemployed parent had lower grade point averages (3.49 compared with 3.92, P<0.001) and rates of school completion (71.9% compared with 86.6%, P<0.001) compared with adolescents with two working parents. The associations between parental unemployment and both grade point average (b = −0.22, 95% confidence interval −0.32, –0.12) and school completion (odds ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.46, 0.76) partly attenuated but remained significant when taking family cohesion, parental education, and family income into account. There was a significant interaction between parental unemployment and family cohesion on grade point average, in which the positive association between family cohesion and grade point average was weaker for adolescents with unemployed parents.Conclusions:Adolescents with parents outside of the workforce are at higher risk of poorer educational outcomes than peers with working parents. Combined with the positive associations between parental education, family cohesion, family income, and educational outcomes, this underscores the importance of parents for adolescent educational outcomes, and suggests that parents and the family situation should be considered when providing academic support for adolescents who struggle in upper secondary school.

Research examining the impact of gender on educational outcomes in autistic students has been sparse. To address this gap, this study investigated the educational journeys of students with autism spectrum disorder in British Columbia, Canada. We examined (1) the time it takes for students to receive an initial autism spectrum disorder designation; and the frequency and percentage of students who (2) stay longitudinally in the Kindergarten-to-Grade 12 school system; (3) complete high school and the credential earned; and (4) proceed to public post-secondary education within British Columbia. We conducted secondary analyses of administrative data. The autism spectrum disorder student population was divided into eight longitudinal cohorts with a combined final sample size of 4282 students with autism spectrum disorder: 738 female (17.2%) and 3544 (82.8%) male. Descriptive analyses indicated statistically significant gender differences in students’ time to initial autism spectrum disorder designation, rates of high school completion and the specific high school credential earned. No gender differences were found in post-secondary transition rates. During their formative education years, gender differences, particularly the delay in autism spectrum disorder diagnosis among girls, may have implications with respect to educational outcomes. Results emphasize the need to provide educators with greater information about recognizing gender differences in autism spectrum disorder.Lay a. What is already known about the topic?Over the past several years, there is growing acknowledgement of gender inequities among people with autism spectrum disorder. The inequity is evidenced, in part, by gender differences in diagnosis. Although the gender gap is narrowing, until recently the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder has largely favoured and is more sensitive to detecting autism spectrum disorder in boys.b. What does this paper add?Research examining the impact of gender on educational outcomes in autistic students has been sparse. To address this gap in the literature, the current study investigated the educational journeys of students with autism spectrum disorder in British Columbia, Canada.We found statistically significant gender differences in students’ time to initial autism spectrum disorder designation, rates of high school completion and the specific high school credential earned. There were, however, no significant differences in whether or not students stayed longitudinally in the K-12 school system over time, whether students transitioned into post-secondary or not (non-developmental or developmental), nor in students’ transition times into the respective post-secondary education programmes.This study highlights the value of longitudinal, population-based and student-level data in conducting gender-based analyses in autism spectrum disorder research.c. Implications for practice, research or policyUnderstanding how gender impacts the academic trajectories of students with autism spectrum disorder over time can inform the development of tailored interventions and services which address their unique needs. Ultimately, this research is needed to promote more equitable educational experiences and outcomes.

Exploring Parental Incarceration, US Government Support Programs, and Child Health and Well-Being: A National Cross-Sectional Study

Parental incarceration is a traumatic experience that affects both the parent and their family. It is also a traumatic childhood and adolescent event that plagues students who may already be vulnerable and oppressed. The current study examines parental incarceration and associated factors. African American students (N = 139) from a Texas Independent School District were assessed to determine associations between parental incarceration and socioeconomic status (free/reduced lunch), educational outcomes (being retained in a grade and/or special education placement) school exclusion (suspension and/or expulsion), and juvenile justice involvement (receipt of a criminal ticket in school, ticket in the community, and/or student arrest, and possible interactional effects. Chi-square and binomial logistic regression were used to examine these associations and the likelihood of experiencing these effects from parental incarceration. Findings revealed that parental incarceration was associated with low socioeconomics, being retained, school exclusion, and juvenile justice involvement in this population. Implications for continued research and practice are discussed.

We analyze the impact of adolescent motherhood on several education and labor market outcomes in Chile over the 1990-2013 period. We explore whether effects are different across income levels, timing of adolescent births, and three sub-periods. Using the CASEN national household survey, we applied propensity score-matching methods on two samples of women aged 24: one for women in the 2009-2013 period and another sample of 24-year-old women living with their mother between 1990-2013. In both samples, adolescent motherhood has negative effects on educational outcomes (high school completion, enrollment in technical institutes and universities, and years of education) and on labor outcomes of non-poor women. Childbearing in early adolescence is associated with worse outcomes, and the adverse effects of adolescent motherhood on education and labor outcomes have diminished over the period. Similar to results in developed countries, adolescent motherhood has negative consequences on women's education and labor outcomes, particularly on women that become mothers early in adolescence. Public policies aimed at reducing teen motherhood will have important effects on young women's education and employment.

Parental incarceration has negative effects on children's educational outcomes. Past studies have only analyzed, and therefore only treated as consequential, parental incarceration that occurs during childhood rather than prenatally. Such analyses that emphasize the importance only of events that occur during one's lifetime are common in life course studies. This paper introduces an "entwined life events" perspective, which argues that certain events are so consequential to multiple persons' lives that they should be analyzed as events within multiple independent life courses; parental incarceration, whenever it occurs, is entwined across and shapes both parents' and children's lives. Drawing on data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we find that parental incarceration, both prenatal and during childhood, significantly influences children's academic ability measures and years of completed schooling. Our results show heterogeneous effects by children's race. We find that the absolute magnitude of parental incarceration effect estimates is largest for White children relative to estimates for Black and Hispanic children. At the same time, outcome levels tend to be poorer for Black and Hispanic children with parental incarceration experience. We explain this racial heterogeneity as confounded by the many other social disadvantages that non-White children encounter, resulting in the individual effect of parental incarceration not being extremely disruptive to their academic growth.

With the expansion of regional and national economies into a global marketplace, education has even greater importance as a primary factor in allowing young adults to enter the workforce and advance economically, as well as to share in the social, health, and other benefits associated with education and productive careers.Dropping out of school before completing the normal course of secondary education greatly undermines these opportunities and is associated with adverse personal and social consequences.Dropout rates in the United States vary by calculation method, state, ethnic background, and socioeconomic status (Cataldi, Laird, & KewelRamani, 2009).Across all states, the percentage of freshman who did not graduate from high school in four years ranges from 13.1% to 44.2% and averages 26.8%.The status dropout rate, which estimates the percentage of individuals in a certain age range who are not in high school and have not earned a diploma or credential, is slightly lower.In October 2007, the proportion of noninstitutionalized 18-24 year olds not in school without a diploma or certificate was 8.7%.Males are more likely to be dropouts than females (9.8% vs. 7.7%).Status dropout rates are much higher for racial/ethnic minorities (21.4% for Hispanics and 8.4% for Blacks vs. 5.3% for Whites).Event dropout rates illustrate single year dropout rates for high school students and show that students from low-income households drop out of high school more frequently than those from more advantaged backgrounds (8.8% for low-income vs. 3.5% for middle income and 0.9% for high income students).The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network reports that school dropouts in the United States earn an average of $9,245 a year less than those who complete high school, have unemployment rates almost 13 percentage points higher than high school graduates, are disproportionately represented in prison populations, are more likely to become teen parents, and more frequently live in poverty (2009).The consequences of school dropout are even worse for minority youth, further exacerbating the economic and structural disadvantage they often experience.School dropout has implications not only for the lives and opportunities of those who experience it, but also has enormous economic and social implications for society at large.For instance,

The number of children experiencing parental imprisonment is increasing in Western industrialized countries. Parental imprisonment is a risk factor for child antisocial behavior, offending, mental health problems, drug abuse, school failure, and unemployment. However, very little is known about whether parental imprisonment causes these problems. Parental imprisonment might cause adverse child outcomes because of the trauma of parent‐child separation, stigma, or social and economic strain. Children may have worse reactions to parental imprisonment if their mother is imprisoned or if parents are imprisoned for longer periods of time or in more punitive social contexts. Children should be protected from harmful effects of parental imprisonment by using family‐friendly prison practices, financial assistance, parenting programs, and sentences that are less stigmatizing for offenders and their families.

Key Words: child well-being, mass imprisonment, parental incarceration, selection bias.Throughout the last 40 years, the American imprisonment rate has increased from a fairly stable rate of about 100 prisoners per 100,000 members of the population in the early 1970s to about 500 per 1 00,000 now (Blumstein & Cohen, 1973; Glaze, 2011). Yet the American imprisonment rate is not only historically novel but also comparatively extreme, as it exceeds those in all other countries and dwarfs those in other developed democracies (Walmsley, 2008). This sea change in imprisonment may have implications for family life, especially among African American families residing in neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage, for whom incarceration is now common (Sampson & Loeffler, 2010; Western & Wildeman, 2009). Fully 25% of African American children will ever have a parent imprisoned, and this is true of more than half of African American children whose fathers did not complete high school (Wildeman, 2009).As a result of these increases in imprisonment, a large literature on the consequences of incarceration for family life has emerged, some of which has appeared in the Journal of Marriage and Family (Dyer, Pleck, & McBride, 2012; Green, Ensminger, Robertson, & Juon, 2006; Johnson & Easterling, 2012; Lopoo & Western, 2005; Poehlmann, 2005; Turney, Schnittker, & Wildeman, 2012). Although some research has considered the effects of having a male family member incarcerated on adult women's well-being (Wildeman, Schnittker, & Turney, 2012) or household finances (Geller, Garftnkel, & Western, 2011; Schwartz-Soicher, Geller, & Garftnkel, 2011), much of it considers how parental incarceration affects child wellbeing. In a recent Journal of Marriage and Family article, Johnson and Easterling (2012) reviewed research on the effects of parental incarceration on child well-being, focusing on the various conceptual frameworks linking parental incarceration and child well-being and the important methodological and conceptual challenges related to selection bias (p. 342) plaguing research in this area. After reviewing 10 relevant studies, the authors reached three conclusions. First, research on the effects of parental incarceration on child well-being is not particularly rigorous, as it has used few methods to diminish the often-substantial concerns about selection bias. Second, on the basis of the one study that found children with imprisoned fathers were no worse off than children of divorced parents (Moerk, 1973), the authors concluded there are good reasons to be skeptical that imprisonment has any effects above and beyond paternal separation more broadly (pp. 347-348). Finally, on the basis of rigorous studies that did not use children of divorced parents as the comparison, the authors concluded that, if there are effects of parental incarceration, it is unclear whether parental incarceration helps or harms child well-being, as the direction of average effects varies across studies (p. 348).In this comment, we address the gaps in Johnson and Easterling's (2012) review of the empirical research - gaps we consider sufficiently large that we consider the review to be an inaccurate portrayal of the existing research on the consequences of parental incarceration for child well-being. We first briefly summarize their methodological suggestions for minimizing selection bias, their review of the literature, and their key conclusions. We then introduce 12 relevant studies that were excluded from their review and emphasize how including these studies not only changes the assessment of the methodological rigor of the literature in this area but also leads to substantively different conclusions. Because we are mostly in agreement with their discussion of conceptual frameworks, we do not address that portion of their article.UNDERSTANDING UNIQUE EFFECTS OF PARENTAL INCARCERATION ON CHILDRENJohnson and Easterling's (2012) argument can be summarized as follows:Children whose parents are incarcerated often differ from children whose parents are not incarcerated on a number of dimensions other than parental incarceration status alone, making it difficult to infer whether the problems that have been observed among children whose parents are incarcerated are due to the parent's incarceration or other adversities in the child's ecology, (p. …

Hispanic college attendance and completion: Evidence from the high school and beyond surveys

We analysed the pathways and performances in mathematics of high (secondary) school students in South Africa using a panel-like data set of Grade 8 students who participated in the 2002 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and who were tracked to Grade 12 examination data sets. We examined the relationship between TIMSS mathematics performance and reaching Grade 12, the selection of and performance in Grade 12 mathematics, and success rates in the matriculation examination. The progression of students from schools serving middle-class (Subsystem M) and poorer students (Subsystem P, the majority) was compared. Firstly, mathematics achievement scores in South Africa are low and different performance patterns were shown between the two subsystems. Secondly, students who started with similar Grade 8 mathematics scores had different educational outcomes 4 years later. In Subsystem M schools, Grade 8 mathematics scores were a good indicator of who would pass matric, whilst this relationship was not as strong in Subsystem P schools. Thirdly, there was a stronger association between TIMSS Grade 8 scores and subject choice of matric mathematics in Subsystem M schools than in Subsystem P schools. Fourthly, there was a strong correlation between Grade 8 mathematics performance and matric mathematics achievement. Mathematics performance in the earlier years predicted later mathematics performance. To raise exit level outcomes, mathematics scores need to be raised by Grade 8 or earlier. To improve educational and labour market outcomes, the policy priority should be to build foundational knowledge and skills in numeracy.

Previous research suggests that child maltreatment is associated with adverse outcomes, but the potential impact on cognitive and educational outcomes into adulthood has rarely been studied using a birth cohort design. The aim of this study is to investigate whether child maltreatment is associated with adverse outcomes in cognitive function, high school completion and employment by the age of 21. Longitudinal birth cohort study commencing in the prenatal period, with mothers and infants followed up to age 21. Of the original birth cohort of 7223, 3778 (52.3%) young people participated at age 21. Child maltreatment was identified by linkage with prospectively collected data from the relevant government agency. Associations between child maltreatment (abuse and neglect) and the outcomes were adjusted for relevant sociodemographic and perinatal variables. After full adjustment, young people who had been notified as cases of child maltreatment had reduced performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test by over a quarter of a standard deviation (coefficient = -2.85, p = 0.004). Maltreated young people also had three times the odds of failing to complete high school (odds ratio = 3.12, p < 0.001) and more than twice the odds of not being engaged in either study or employment at age 21 (odds ratio = 2.38, p < 0.001). Both abuse and neglect were similarly associated with adverse outcomes. Child maltreatment, including both abuse and neglect, is associated with adverse cognitive, educational and employment outcomes in young adulthood. This adds further impetus to efforts to prevent child maltreatment and assist young people who have experienced it.

Parental incarceration (PI) is associated with adverse developmental outcomes for children affected. However, research in this area often reports conflicting results with few studies following children across time in non-U.S. Additionally, more research is called for using multi-informant perspectives rather than relying on adult reports of child outcomes alone. This study used data from the first two waves of a nationally representative cohort study of 8,568 children aged 9 years and followed up at age 13 living in the Republic of Ireland (2007-2012). Propensity score matching was used to match children who had experienced PI by the age of nine to children who had not experienced PI by sociodemographics and experience of other stressful events. Mental health, as measured by self-concept (Piers-Harris II) and externalizing and internalizing difficulties (strength and difficulties questionnaire), was compared across both groups. Fifty of the 8,568 children (weighted percentage 0.9%) reported experiencing PI by the age of nine. These children came from more socially disadvantaged homes and were more likely to have experienced other potentially stressful life events. In comparison to a matched sample of children not affected by PI, children affected by PI reported higher levels of anxiety at age nine. Longitudinal analysis indicated these children affected by PI also reported lower levels of happiness at age 13 with higher levels of emotional difficulties reported by their primary caregiver. Children of incarcerated parents face a greater array of life challenges. PI had an association with child-reported levels of anxiety at age nine. PI also had a medium-term association on caregiver assessments of emotional difficulties of children affected as well child-reported levels of happiness over time.

This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Work Experience of Youth (NLSY) for 4696 US women who were aged 20-26 in 1983, and thus were past the normal age of high school completion, to examine patterns of high school termination and completion associated with teenage childbearing. The role of the General Educational Development (GED) program is examined as the means by which teenage mothers obtain high school credentials once they have dropped out of school. Most employers, training programs and colleges accept the GED certificates in the same manner as they do regular high school diplomas. Tabulated data indicate that high school completion rates for women aged 20-26 in 1983 range from only 53% among women who gave birth within 7 months after leaving school, to 79% among those who became pregnant after leaving school. Among Hispanic mothers who gave birth shortly after leaving school, the proportion completing their 2ndary education is 20 points lower than it is among whites or blacks (33% vs. 55%). Among Hispanic mothers who became pregnant after leaving school, the proportion is nearly 30 points lower (55% vs. 81-85%). Overall, only 5% of young women obtain their high school credentials through the GED equivalency program. However, young mothers are about 2-3 times as likely to go this route as are childless women. The GED program emerges as the predominant means of high school completion among white mothers (51% of those with accreditation), whereas it is considerably less important among black mothers (28%). The data also indicate how age at childbearing is closely associated with the probability of school completion and the type of credential received. The analyses highlight the importance of the GED program for women who bear children at an early age. Among women who complete high school but bear a child prior to the date of high school accreditation, about 40% obtain their credential through the GED program. Most of the women who 1st give birth at ages 15-16 do not finish high school by their early 20s, but those who do finish are almost as likely to obtain a GED credential as they are to receive a standard diploma. Although it is possible that availability of the GED option may encourage some young mothers to prematurely terminate their formal schooling, in all likelihood it permits a greater number to receive high school accreditation.

Parental incarceration is an adverse childhood experience that disproportionately affects racially minoritized individuals and has been associated with long-term health risks. Although cardiovascular disease remains the primary cause of mortality differences between Black and White individuals in the US, the association between parental incarceration and cardiovascular risk remains poorly understood. To examine the association between parental incarceration during childhood and incident cardiovascular risk in adulthood. This population-based cohort study included data from waves IV (2008-2009) and V (2016-2018) of the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Participants represented US adults transitioning from young adulthood to adulthood. Data were analyzed from October 28, 2021, to May 1, 2023. Parental incarceration was defined as a parent or parent-like figure going to jail or prison when participants were aged younger than 18 years. Outcome measures included self-reported diagnoses of obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes, or heart disease as well as serum elevations in non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (≥160 mg/dL) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP >3 mg/L), a marker of inflammation used to estimate risk of future coronary events. Using sampling weights, incident development of each outcome was modeled as a function of parental incarceration, adjusting for participant- and neighborhood-level characteristics. This study included 9629 participants representing 16 077 108 US adults. Approximately half of participants were women (5498 [weighted 50.3%]) and the majority (5895 [weighted 71.4%]) were White. The mean participant age was 37.8 years (95% CI, 37.5 to 38.0 years) in wave V compared with 28.9 years (95% CI, 28.6 to 29.1 years) in wave IV. In wave V, those with childhood exposure to parental incarceration had lower educational attainment (91 [weighted 8.2%] vs 245 [weighted 4.2%] completing less than high school), had higher rates of public insurance (257 [weighted 20.6%] vs 806 [weighted 11.0%]), and were disproportionately Black (374 [weighted 22.5%] vs 1488 [weighted 13.6%]). Parental incarceration was associated with 33% higher adjusted odds (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.68) of developing hypertension and 60% higher adjusted odds (95% CI, 1.03 to 2.48) of developing elevated hsCRP. Associations between childhood parental incarceration and other diagnoses (ie, obesity, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, or heart disease) and serum lipid levels were not observed. In this cohort study of US adults transitioning from young adulthood to adulthood, an increased incidence of hypertension and high-risk hsCRP, but not other cardiovascular risk factors, was observed among those exposed to parental incarceration during childhood. These findings suggest possible transgenerational health consequences of mass incarceration.