Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics of Variables Used in Analysis by Paternal Incarceration
| Variable | Full Analytic Sample | Never Incarcerated by Y5 | Ever Incarcerated by Y5 |
Never-Ever Mean Difference | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By Y1 Only | Y1-Y5 | ||||||||
| Mean | St Dev | Mean | St Dev | Mean | St Dev | Mean | St Dev | ||
| Outcome Variable | |||||||||
| Suspended or expelled by Y9 | 0.19 | 0.13 | 0.19 | 0.29 | −0.12 *** | ||||
| Main Explanatory Variable | |||||||||
| Father incarcerated between Y1 and Y5 | 0.31 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | −0.68 | ||||
| Mediating Variables | |||||||||
| Child Behavior Problems | |||||||||
| Parent-reported behavior problems (z-scores) | −0.02 | 1.01 | −0.17 | 0.94 | 0.01 | 0.98 | 0.25 | 1.09 | −0.35 *** |
| Self-reported delinquency (0 to 16) | 1.06 | 1.58 | 0.90 | 1.44 | 1.09 | 1.57 | 1.33 | 1.78 | −0.36 *** |
| Weakened Family Bonds | |||||||||
| Father low involvement, Y5 (1 to 8) | 4.61 | 1.57 | 4.45 | 1.50 | 4.68 | 1.56 | 4.86 | 1.67 | −0.35 *** |
| Mother harsh parenting, Y5 | 0.17 | 0.14 | 0.19 | 0.20 | −0.06 *** | ||||
| Mother and father separated, Y5 | 0.48 | 0.34 | 0.47 | 0.73 | −0.30 *** | ||||
| Mother has new partner, Y5 | 0.14 | 0.09 | 0.16 | 0.22 | −0.11*** | ||||
| Weakened Employment Bonds | |||||||||
| Mother income-to-poverty ratio, Y5 (0 to 3.58) | 0.90 | 0.55 | 1.05 | 0.58 | 0.80 | 0.45 | 0.67 | 0.44 | 0.34 *** |
| Father unemployment, Y5 | 0.11 | 0.07 | 0.10 | 0.19 | −0.09 *** | ||||
| Control Variables | |||||||||
| School and Neighborhood Controls | |||||||||
| School majority black, Y9 | 0.35 | 0.30 | 0.38 | 0.44 | −0.12 *** | ||||
| School majority Hispanic, Y9 | 0.22 | 0.21 | 0.25 | 0.21 | −0.01 | ||||
| School majority free/red-price lunch, Y9 | 0.68 | 0.59 | 0.77 | 0.79 | −0.19 *** | ||||
| School Out-of-school suspension rate, Y9 (0 to 0.40) | 0.04 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0.05 | −0.01 *** |
| Neighborhood disadvantage (z-scores) | −0.01 | 0.89 | −0.11 | 0.89 | 0.03 | 0.82 | 0.16 | 0.89 | −0.23 *** |
| Other Controls | |||||||||
| Father lives with child, Y1 | 0.70 | 0.75 | 0.73 | 0.59 | 0.11 *** | ||||
| Father incarcerated by Y1 | 0.34 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.62 | −0.74 *** | ||||
| Child male | 0.52 | 0.53 | 0.48 | 0.53 | 0.02 | ||||
| Child Non-Hispanic black | 0.51 | 0.43 | 0.56 | 0.63 | −0.18 *** | ||||
| Child Hispanic | 0.30 | 0.32 | 0.30 | 0.26 | 0.05 ** | ||||
| Child age in months, Y5 (56 to 74) | 61.60 | 2.70 | 61.51 | 2.64 | 61.40 | 2.62 | 61.84 | 2.83 | −0.18 *** |
| Father age, Y0 (14 to 67) | 28.16 | 7.23 | 29.57 | 7.45 | 28.05 | 6.84 | 25.68 | 6.27 | 3.12 *** |
| Mother criminal justice contact by Y3 | 0.19 | 0.13 | 0.25 | 0.28 | −0.14 *** | ||||
| Father impulsivity, Y1 (z-scores) | 0.01 | 1.00 | −0.25 | 0.87 | 0.03 | 0.97 | 0.46 | 1.09 | −0.57 *** |
| Mother impulsivity, Y3 (z-scores) | 0.00 | 1.00 | −0.12 | 0.97 | 0.03 | 0.94 | 0.20 | 1.04 | −0.27 *** |
| Father substance abuse by Y1 | 0.15 | 0.07 | 0.21 | 0.26 | −0.17 *** | ||||
| Mother’s victimization by father by Y1 | 0.12 | 0.06 | 0.17 | 0.19 | −0.12 *** | ||||
| Father and mother married, Y0 | 0.24 | 0.37 | 0.10 | 0.07 | 0.29 *** | ||||
| Father and mother cohabiting, Y0 | 0.37 | 0.33 | 0.48 | 0.37 | −0.07 | ||||
| Mother has post-secondary schooling, Y0 | 0.36 | 0.46 | 0.27 | 0.22 | 0.23 *** | ||||
| Father has post-secondary schooling, Y0 | 0.31 | 0.42 | 0.20 | 0.16 | 0.25 *** | ||||
| Either parent material hardship, Y1 | 0.60 | 0.49 | 0.66 | 0.76 | −0.24 *** | ||||
| Mother depression at Y1 | 0.15 | 0.12 | 0.18 | 0.20 | −0.08 *** | ||||
| Either parent not a US citizen | 0.15 | 0.20 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.11 *** | ||||
| Mother lived with both parents at age 15 | 0.41 | 0.49 | 0.34 | 0.31 | 0.17 *** | ||||
| Father lived with both parents at age 15 | 0.45 | 0.54 | 0.39 | 0.32 | 0.20 *** | ||||
| Mother religious attendance, Y0 | 0.22 | 0.25 | 0.17 | 0.18 | 0.07 *** | ||||
| Mother cognitive ability (z-scores) | −0.01 | 1.00 | 0.05 | 1.03 | −0.07 | 1.02 | −0.09 | 0.93 | 0.13 ** |
| Father cognitive ability (z-scores) | −0.02 | 1.00 | 0.02 | 1.04 | −0.06 | 0.91 | −0.07 | 0.95 | 0.09 |
| Child low birth weight | 0.10 | 0.08 | 0.10 | 0.12 | −0.03 ** | ||||
| Children in mother household, Y1 (0 to 9) | 2.31 | 1.31 | 2.21 | 1.26 | 2.40 | 1.38 | 2.45 | 1.35 | −0.23 *** |
| N | 3,201 | 1,756 | 466 | 979 | |||||
Notes: Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Sample limited to observations with nonmissing values for survey items about the child’s school discipline by Y9. Children with deceased or unknown fathers by the five-year survey are excluded. Sample city dummy variables are not shown for parsimony. Results are unweighted and based on the first of 25 multiply imputed datasets. Y0 = baseline (birth); Y1 = one-year survey; Y3 = three-year survey; Y5 = five-year survey; Y9 = nine-year survey.
***
p<.001
**
p<.01 (two-tailed).