Paternal incarceration and trajectories of marijuana and other illegal drug use from adolescence into young adulthood: evidence from longitudinal panels of males and females in the United States

Abstract

Aims One-eighth of young adults in the United States report that their biological father has ever been incarcerated (FEI). This study is the first to examine associations between FEI and trajectories of substance use during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood for the US population. Design Using multi-level modeling techniques, trajectories of marijuana and other illegal drug use are examined, with FEI as the primary independent variable. Setting Data are from the first three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of US adolescents beginning in 1995. Participants Panels of 7157 males and 7997 females followed from adolescence (7th–12th grades) into early adulthood (ages 18–27 years). Measurements Dependent variables included an ordinal measure of marijuana frequency of use in last thirty days, and a dichotomous measure for whether respondent had any use in the last thirty days of illegal drugs such crystal meth, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, PCP, LSD, speed, and ecstasy. Findings Among males and females, respectively, FEI is associated with an increased frequency of marijuana use, and increased odds of any other illegal drug use. Interactions between FEI and age further reveal that FEI is associated with an accentuated trajectory (i.e. a steeper slope) of marijuana use, and an elevated risk (i.e. higher mean level) of other illegal drug use. Conclusions Analysis provides some of the first evidence that paternal incarceration is significantly associated with drug use among U.S. males and females, even after controlling for a number of family background, parental, and individual characteristics.

Correlates of the Sex Trade among African–American Youth Living in Urban Public Housing: Assessing the Role of Parental Incarceration and Parental Substance Use

“…3,[32][33][34][35] Parental incarceration has also been connected to other multiple negative outcomes including trading sex. 1 Similar to observations made earlier, parental incarceration may disrupt a youth's home environment, leading to an increase in health risk behavior.…”

Early Onset of Sexual Intercourse and Parental Incarceration among African American Youth Living in Urban Public Housing

“…A major finding in this paper indicates that they are also intricately linked. Although it is well documented that the loss of a parent to prison and alcohol problems are linked to behaviors in their offspring [37,38], including sexual behavior [17], this paper represents a first to empirically assess how these two specific parental hardships are related to age of sexual onset. Furthermore, no studies have explored these relationships within communities with a heavy presence of drug activities, that are targets of the war on drugs, that are hardest hit by mass incarceration, and that are home to our nation's most vulnerable population of youth (i.e., urban public housing developments).…”

Commentary on Roettger et al. (2011): Confronting the elephant in the room

“…Because the risk of parental imprisonment has increased in tandem with the risk of imprisonment for adult men [8], mass imprisonment might also have exacerbated childhood inequality-but only if parental imprisonment harms children [9][10][11]. It is into this area that the excellent work by Roettger and colleagues [12] fits. By linking paternal incarceration with children's substance use trajectories, they extend knowledge about the effects of paternal incarceration in an importantand too long ignored-direction [12].…”

“…It is into this area that the excellent work by Roettger and colleagues [12] fits. By linking paternal incarceration with children's substance use trajectories, they extend knowledge about the effects of paternal incarceration in an importantand too long ignored-direction [12]. Yet the elephant in the room remains: does parental incarceration cause poor child outcomes?…”

“…Yet the elephant in the room remains: does parental incarceration cause poor child outcomes? On this point, the authors are candid: too many obstacles to causal inference persist to be certain [12].…”