2018/01/29 by Joshua C. Cochran, Sonja E. Siennick, Daniel P. Mears · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Health Professions · #Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis #Homelessness and Social Issues #Crime Patterns and Interventions
paper · doi:10.1111/jomf.12464
openalex publication_date 2018/01/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Although prior research links parental incarceration to deleterious outcomes for children over the life-course, few studies have examined whether such incarceration affects the social exclusion of children during adolescence. Drawing on several lines of scholarship, we examine whether adolescents with incarcerated parents have fewer or lower quality relationships, participate in more antisocial peer networks, and feel less integrated or engaged in school. The study applies propensity score matching to survey and network data from a national sample of youth. Analyses indicated that children with incarcerated parents have more antisocial peers; we found limited evidence, though, that parental incarceration adversely impacts peer networks and school integration domains. Generally, the results suggested that the impacts of parental incarceration on adolescents' social lives have less to do with isolation than with the types of peers adolescents befriend. Findings provide support for the idea that parental incarceration may adversely affect children's social exclusion.