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Journal Article Since the mid-1970s the U.S. imprisonment rate has increased roughly fivefold. As Christopher Wildeman and Bruce Western explain, the effects of this sea change in the imprisonment rate--commonly called mass imprisonment or the prison boom--have been concentrated among those most likely to form fragile families: poor and minority men with little schooling.Imprisonment diminishes the earnings of adult men, compromises their health, reduces familial resources, and contributes to family breakup. It also adds to the deficits of poor children, thus ensuring that the effects of imprisonment on…
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Journal Article How paternal influences interact with community factors to determine adolescent mental health is currently not well understood. In the current study we present a unique analysis of how paternal work stress, mental health, ethnicity, work history, and migration patterns between rural and urban communities (or vice versa) are associated with mental health outcomes among 2,342 adolescents. Path analyses revealed that fathers' relocation was associated with less paternal work stress, and fewer mental health problems both in adolescents and their fathers. These findings contribute to our…
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Journal Article Prior research indicates that assuming family roles, such as parent or spouse, can aid in the transition from prison to the community and has been linked to positive outcomes after a period of confinement. Using data from a longitudinal study of men returning to the community after incarceration, this study examines how the relationship between fathers and their children immediately after release may impact aspects of fathers' lives that are important to a successful reentry transition in the first year, such as employment, abstinence from substance abuse, and mental health. Analyses show…
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Journal Article The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine the impact of a job-training program, the Georgia Fatherhood Program (GFP), on the employment levels and wages of low-income, non-custodial parents. A pretest/posttest design was created to compare GFP participants to a similar comparison group. Results of the research indicate that GFP participants experienced a significant increase in employment and gained wages similar to the employed comparison group. However repeated measures analysis revealed that previously employed GFP participants did not significantly increase their wages. The…
Part of a series of fact sheets that discuss how and why the child support program provides innovative services to families across six interrelated areas to assure that parents have the tools and resources they need to support their children and be positively involved in raising them, this fact sheet discusses the dependence of reliable child support payments upon noncustodial parents having stable income. The child support program can increase regular child support payments by helping noncustodial parents find and keep work, and connecting custodial and noncustodial parents to resources that…
