Dissertation
IS PARENTHOOD PARAMOUNT? EXAMINING RECIDIVISM AND THE EFFECTS OF GENDER, ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, AND INTERGENERATIONAL CONTINUITY
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2020
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/117151
Abstract
Purpose: In 2015, there were 2.2 million people incarcerated in the United States. Over half are parents. The current assumption is parents are at greater risk of recidivism than non-parents, so additional resources should be allocated to parents to foster successful reentry. However, the empirical evidence for this assumption reveals mixed results. This dissertation examines whether parenthood is paramount for predicting recidivism; or if gender, exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences, parental incarceration, and other factors predict this relationship.
Methods: I conducted a secondary data analysis of offenders convicted of both juvenile and adult offenses in Washington State between 1998 and 2016. Utilizing official records of offending and juvenile and adult risk-needs-responsivity assessments, I created a propensity score match of parents and non-parents (n=962) with 40 theoretically relevant control variables, then conducted Cox Regression survival analyses to examine recidivistic outcomes three years post-release.
Results: Bivariate results indicate parents are less likely to be reconvicted for all types of offenses except violent misdemeanors, but parents and non-parents do not have differing averages days until recidivism. Multivariate analysis reveal parental recidivism is predicted by a history of maternal incarceration, marriage, and residing with one’s spouse for both genders. Quality of the parent-child relationship is not a significant predictor of recidivism for parents. Recidivism among non-parents is significantly predicted by gender and living with one’s spouse, and marginally predicted by being a second-generation offender. These results indicate significant differences in recidivism exist between parents and non-parents even among high-risk offenders, but the effect is small.
Conclusion: Current programmatic interventions to prevent parental recidivism should be maintained. However, recidivism rates among both parents and non-parents remain high. Future qualitative research with this sample should examine the effectiveness of these programs for this sample and address limitations inherent in this study. Youth should be screened for ACEs and maternal incarceration individually, then monitored for self-selection into parenthood. Parenthood is not paramount, but it is pertinent.
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Details
- Title
- IS PARENTHOOD PARAMOUNT? EXAMINING RECIDIVISM AND THE EFFECTS OF GENDER, ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, AND INTERGENERATIONAL CONTINUITY
- Creators
- Chyla Grant
- Contributors
- Zachary Hamilton (Advisor)Faith Lutze (Committee Member)Amelie Pedneault (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Criminal Justice and Criminology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 112
- Identifiers
- 99900581498201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation