title: Paternal incarceration and child-reported behavioral functioning at age 9.
abstract: Within the last few decades our understanding of the importance of non-cognitive skills for socioeconomic success has grown along with our knowledge of the deleterious impacts of paternal incarceration for child wellbeing. Given the importance of early skills and that elementary-aged children constitute the majority of children with incarcerated parents, understanding the connection between paternal incarceration and the socio-emotional component of children's non-cognitive development is pressing. Using matching models, data from the newest wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, and exploring a larger range of behavioral skills than previous literature, this paper provides estimates of the impact of paternal incarceration on children's behavioral functioning at age 9 using children's own self-reports. Comparisons to oft-used parent reports are made and heterogeneity by gender is explored. Findings suggest the incarceration of a father increases the antisocial behaviors children self-report, but has null effects on prosocial skill development.
authors.affiliation: Cornell University, Department of Sociology, USA. Electronic address: arh96@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Anna R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Haskins
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D002657:Child Development; D000067576:Child Health; D002669:Child Welfare; D004644:Emotions; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010333:Paternal Deprivation; D011329:Prisoners; D011330:Prisons; D057566:Self Report; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Child self-reports; Middle childhood; Non-cognitive development; Paternal incarceration; Propensity Score Matching; Socio-emotional behavior