Just how far does the apple fall?: the effects of parental incarceration on offspring's criminal justice outcomes.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20002455

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study explored arrest outcomes for children whom have known what it is to have a parent behind bars. To better isolate the effects of parental incarceration experiences, offspring and family characteristics potentially associated with increased odds of arrest were controlled and a series of logistic regressions were performed. It was hypothesized that parental incarceration would increase the odds of offspring's arrest and that maternal incarceration experiences would have more of an impact than paternal. A statistically significant model predicting offspring's odds of arrest was achieved with a final sample of 4042 respondents, revealing significant effects of parental incarceration experiences on these odds. Analyses also revealed maternal incarceration experiences were more influential on offspring's odds of arrest than paternal incarceration experiences. Our findings align with prior research and better inform the risk factors associated with offspring's adverse outcomes.