Positive, Negative, or Null? The Effects of Maternal Incarceration on Children

Christopher Wildeman, Yale University
Kristin Turney, University of California, Irvine

Little research tests whether maternal incarceration helps, harms, or has no effect on children despite compelling reasons to expect that any of the three could be the case and dramatic increases in the prevalence of maternal imprisonment. Indeed, with the exception of a few rigorous studies of effects on children’s educational and birth outcomes, little research has tested whether maternal incarceration affects children after adjusting for differences in the family lives of children who do and do not experience maternal incarceration. In this study, we use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and a series of rigorous models to consider the effects of maternal incarceration on the developmental outcomes of nine year olds. After adjusting for potential confounders, maternal incarceration has a significant effect on only 1 of the 21 developmental outcomes, suggesting that effects of maternal incarceration on child development are often null.