Positive, Negative, or Null? The Effects of Maternal Incarceration on Children’s Behavioral Problems

As maternal incarceration may help, harm, or have no effect on child wellbeing, increases in the risk of maternal imprisonment are relevant to scholars interested in both mass imprisonment and the forces that shape inequalities in child wellbeing. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few rigorous studies on educational and birth outcomes, little research has considered the effect of maternal incarceration on child wellbeing after adjusting for differences between children who do and do not experience maternal incarceration. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to consider the effects of maternal incarceration on 21 caregiver- and teacher-reported behavioral problems among nine-year-old children. Results show that, after adjusting for confounders, maternal incarceration is positively and significantly associated with just 1 behavioral problem and negatively and significantly associated with just 1 behavioral problem. In models considering both maternal and paternal incarceration, compared to children with neither parent incarcerated, children with only a father incarcerated have significantly more behavioral problems on 17 of 21 outcomes and children with only a mother incarcerated have significantly more behavioral problems on 1 of 21 outcomes. Taken together, our results suggest the average effects of maternal incarceration on children’s behavioral problems are null.