Child's Gender, Young Fathers' Crime, and Spillover Effects in Criminal Behavior

Men who father their first child at a very young age are convicted of significantly fewer crimes in the first years after birth if the child is a son rather than a daughter. This leads to behavioral spillovers that reduce criminal convictions among other young men living in the same neighborhood, with the resulting crime multipliers affecting peers’ crime even after the primary impact on the focal individual has dissipated. Through social multipliers, prevention policies that target potential criminals at an early stage, therefore, lead to larger reductions in the cost of crime than suggested by primary effects alone

Police Officers’ Coping Styles and Occupational Stressors Impacting Self-Regulation in Adult Offspring

Police work, a high stress occupation with increased risks and adverse events, often leads to strain between work and family. Work-family conflict (WFC) has been shown to mediate coping with stress. In addition, offspring of law enforcement officers (LEOs) may learn self-regulation by observing parental stress coping and attempting to alleviate stress for their parent. Three theoretical frameworks were used in this study: WFC, spill-over cross-over model, and family systems theory. Using a quantitative design, surveys were completed by 35 parent-adult offspring pairs, with more LEO parent respondents (N = 71) than adult offspring respondents (N = 43). Linear regression analyses, PROCESS macro, and dependent t test were used to address the five research questions to best examine the sample collected. The findings revealed that police officer stress and coping styles significantly impacted adult offspring self-regulation. While LEO parent WFC was not found to influence the relationship between police occupational stress, coping styles, and adult offspring self-regulation, the perspective of adult offspring on their parent’s WFC served as a mediator in this relationship. Police officer occupational stress and coping styles impacted LEO parent WFC. No significant differences were found between the perspectives of LEO WFC by the LEO parent and adult-offspring. Lastly, police officers’ occupational stress and coping styles significantly impacted the perspectives of their adult offspring regarding their parent’s WFC. Implementing positive social change based on the findings of this study, the law enforcement community may benefit from stress-reduction education, resilience-building programs, and supportive networks

Responsible Government: Investing in the Well-Being of Black Fathers, Families and Communities

Beginning with a summary of the history of public policy contributions to poverty and racial inequity in America, the report describes how this context impacts black fathers, and how their circumstances and choices in turn affect black children. It concludes with an overview of the Julia Carson Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2009 (which subsequently died and was re-introduced in 2011 and 2013)

Examining the Pathway from Maternal Criminal Involvement to Adolescent Delinquency

As incarceration rates across the United States have continued to rise, there has been growing concern with the unintended consequences that have resulted. This has prompted researchers across multiple disciplines to study the effects of incarceration at the individual, family, community, and societal levels. An important but overlooked factor pertains to extensive multiple social service agency involvement and missed opportunities for intervention. Families involved with the criminal justice system (CJS) are often at risk of involvement with other human service agencies, one agency being the child welfare system (CWS). Little is known about families who fall within these two systems, and neither system is charged with assessing whether families in this group are unique from those involved in either system. The current study aimed to address limitations in previous studies and supplement the literature in relation to families with dual-system involvement. A nationally representative, longitudinal data set was analyzed to examine whether maternal CJS involvement predicted later youth delinquency within the CWS population. The moderating effects of parental monitoring, nonviolent discipline, and timing of maternal arrest were also examined to gain a better understanding of the conditions in which maternal CJS involvement was exacerbated or ameliorated. Maternal CJS involvement was a significant predictor of change in youth delinquency only in the presence of the moderating variables. Youth with maternal CJS involvement experienced decreases in delinquency regardless of monitoring compared to similar youth who experienced more delinquency in the presence of low monitoring. A timing effect was found such that youth whose mothers were arrested 4.5 to 9.5 years ago were more likely to have elevated delinquency scores at the follow-up assessment. The results of the study suggest families with dual-system involvement are distinct from other families in the CWS. Given concerns to the intergenerational transmission of criminality, this study highlights the importance of interagency coordination around policy and interventions so that at-risk families avoid slipping through the cracks of multiple service involvement

Race and the Impact of Parental Incarceration on Childhood Outcomes

Using Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), this thesis analyzes the relationship between parental incarceration and adverse life outcomes. More specifically, I examine the associations between parental incarceration and education, depressive symptoms, and criminal justice involvement. Using binomial logistic regression, I examine the differences between youth that had an incarcerated parent (mother, father, or both) compared to not having a parent incarcerated. Results indicate that Individuals experiencing parental incarceration were statistically more likely to experience negative outcomes compared to those that have not experienced parental incarceration

An exploratory descriptive study of conflict tactics utilized by truant African-American males and females, 1997

The overall objective of this study was to examine the differences in conflict tactics utilized by African-American truant males and females within the family environment. To attain this objective, reasoning, verbal, and physical conflict tactics utilized by the truant when in a conflictual situation with their mother, father, and siblings, were measured. The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) was used to gather data from a sample of 35 African-American truant offenders ranging from ages 11 to 17. These individuals were obtained from the Truancy Intervention Program housed at the Fulton County Juvenile Court. T-test analysis noted a significant difference between males and females utilization of physical conflict tactics; however, it did not note a significant difference between males and females utilization of reasoning and verbal conflict tactics

Parental Pains of Imprisonment: A Critical Qualitative Examination of Reentry Into Family Life

The purpose of this study is to grasp and become better informed about the experiences of formerly incarcerated mothers and fathers transitioning from correctional facilities (i.e., local jails, state & federal prisons) back into family life. Lacking in criminological literature on prisoner reentry is the intersection of parenthood and post-incarceration reintegration. Since available research often focuses on maternal and paternal reentry separately, this study encapsulates both to provide an in-depth analysis of experiences across race and gender. To gauge perspectives and experiences in-depth, this study is grounded in qualitative/triangulated methodologies. The data and findings from this study aim to assist institutional and community-based prisoner reentry programs and services in their efforts to improve the transitional process from incarceration to communities of formerly incarcerated parents. Study findings may also be applicable to the administration of justice by providing empirically sound policy implications for correctional officials and agencies that are both gender and culturally responsive

Analyzing the effects of father\u27s antisocial behavior on mothers and children: a longitudinal study of single-parent families

This study examines changes in mothers\u27 and adolescent mental health and behavioral measures in recently divorced single parent families. Overall, mothers in the study showed improvement in multiple measures of mental health over the course of this three year study. Single mother\u27s problems with drinking also improved over time. Lower income women whose former spouse had problems with alcohol showed the most improvement in anxiety over time. Women who reported more physically abusive behavior prior to their divorce also reported the most improvement in depression over time. Women who continued to experience abuse in the post-divorce setting continued to have more problems with substance use, anxiety, and depression compared to other groups in the study. Mothers\u27 reports of their former spouse problems with substance use predicted differences or changes in adolescent delinquency, antisocial behavior, and mastery. Mothers\u27 reports of emotional abuse prior to the divorce predicted differences or changes in adolescent anxiety, depression, delinquency, antisocial behavior and drug use. Mothers\u27 report of the former spouses\u27 physically abusive behavior predicted differences or changes in adolescent antisocial behavior, while targets\u27 report of witnessing physical abuse by the father produced different outcomes in self-esteem by gender. Targets\u27 report of witnessing emotional abuse by the father predicted significant differences or changes over time in self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and antisocial behavior. Father\u27s level of post-divorce abusive behavior to adolescents was significantly related to differences or changes in adolescent mastery, anxiety, self-esteem, delinquency, and drug use

Dilemmas of Indissoluble Parenthood: Legal Incentives, Parenting, and the Work-Family Balance

Building upon three main points developed by Patrick Parkinson in Family Law and the Indissolubility of Parenthood (2011), this paper shows that globally there is great legal interest in protecting parenting and parent-children relations; that issues grounded in the indissolubility of parenthood arise during ongoing marriages as well as after marital breakup (or nonformation); and that legal reforms to reduce or eliminate laws creating perverse incentives that impede effective, committed parenting should consider regulations regarding intact families as well as never-married and post-divorce families. This article reviews evidence of the deterioration of families and of parenting in society, including rising cohabitation, increasing non-marital child-bearing, consistently high (and socially accepted) divorce, and growing single-parenting, with attendant high social cost, all indicating a need for laws that support indissoluble parenting. Provisions in the national constitutions of 180 (out of 193 sovereign) nations that protect parents, children and parent-child relations, are reviewed and discussed; they manifest wide global recognition of the principle of indissoluble parenthood and its importance to societies and nations. The silent abandonment of children by time-fragmented parents who are pulled by and focused on other interests and responsibilities is discussed; research about the impact of mothers\u27 employment and fathers\u27 non-parenting upon quality of family life and child development is reviewed to suggest the need for policies that encourage commitment to parenting and reward career and other sacrifices made for children. Some examples of specific legal rules that create perverse incentives to neglect parenting and others that reinforce good parenting are discussed. Persistence in crafting laws to promote recognition of and commitment to the responsibilities of indissoluble parenthood, even despite temporary setbacks and problems, is recommended