Dataset Information

Parental Incarceration and Child Overweight: Results From a Sample of Disadvantaged Children in the United States.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:Rates of childhood obesity and parental incarceration have been increasing in the United States since the 1970s. We examined whether parental incarceration was associated with child overweight at age 9 and whether that association differed by which parent was incarcerated. METHODS:We ran cross-sectional logistic regression models predicting the likelihood of a child being overweight, conditional on whether the child's mother, father, or both parents had ever been incarcerated. Our sample included non-Hispanic black (n = 1638) and non-Hispanic white (n = 504) children who were surveyed at age 9 in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a stratified random sample of new and mostly unmarried parents in US cities with populations >200?000. Children were born between 1998 and 2000. RESULTS:Controlling for race, sex, parental socioeconomic status, maternal obesity, parental impulsivity, and child temperament, the odds of being overweight were significantly lower if a child's mother was the only parent ever incarcerated (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.43; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.22-0.83) or if both parents were ever incarcerated (aOR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.38-0.87) compared with children whose parents were never incarcerated. Having a father who had ever been incarcerated had a comparatively meager and nonsignificant effect on the odds of a child being overweight (aOR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.64-1.01). CONCLUSIONS:Our findings contribute to an emerging body of research suggesting that the consequences of parental incarceration for young children's physical health may differ by whether a child's mother or father has ever been incarcerated. Caution is warranted in generalizing the negative behavioral and mental health effects of parental incarceration to child physical health conditions, particularly for young children whose mothers have a history of incarceration.

SUBMITTER: Branigan AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6598142 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul/Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Parental Incarceration and Child Overweight: Results From a Sample of Disadvantaged Children in the United States.

Branigan Amelia R AR Wildeman Christopher C

Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) 20190604 4

<h4>Objectives</h4>Rates of childhood obesity and parental incarceration have been increasing in the United States since the 1970s. We examined whether parental incarceration was associated with child overweight at age 9 and whether that association differed by which parent was incarcerated.<h4>Methods</h4>We ran cross-sectional logistic regression models predicting the likelihood of a child being overweight, conditional on whether the child's mother, father, or both parents had ever been incarc ...[more]

PMID: 31163114

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Project description:ImportanceMore than half of the adult population in the United States has ever had a family member incarcerated, an experience more common among Black individuals. The impacts of family incarceration on well-being are not fully understood.ObjectiveTo assess the associations of incarceration of a family member with perceived well-being and differences in projected life expectancy.Design, setting, and participantsThis nationally representative cross-sectional study used data from the 2018 Family History of Incarceration Survey to examine how experiences of family member incarceration were associated with a holistic measure of well-being, including physical, mental, social, financial, and spiritual domains. Well-being was used to estimate change in life expectancy and was compared across varying levels of exposure to immediate and extended family member incarceration using logistic regression models to adjust for individual and household characteristics. Data were analyzed from October 2019 to April 2020.ExposuresRespondents' history of family member incarceration, including immediate and extended family members.Main outcomes and measuresThe main outcome was self-reported life-evaluation, a measure of overall well-being from the 100 Million Healthier Lives Adult Well-being Assessment. Respondents were considered thriving with a current life satisfaction score of 7 or greater and a future life optimism score of 8 or greater, each on a scale of 0 to 10. Other outcomes included physical health, mental health, social support, financial well-being, and spiritual well-being, each measured with separate scales. Additionally, life expectancy projections were estimated using population-level correlations with the Life Evaluation Index. All percentages were weighted to more closely represent the US population.ResultsOf 2815 individuals included in analysis, 1472 (51.7%) were women, 1765 (62.8%) were non-Hispanic White, and 868 (31.5%) were aged 35 to 54 years. A total of 1806 respondents (45.0%) reported having an immediate family member who was incarcerated. Compared with respondents with no family incarceration, any family member incarceration was associated with lower well-being overall (thriving: 69.5% [95% CI, 65.0%-75.0%] vs 56.9% [95% CI, 53.9%-59.9%]) and in every individual domain (eg, physical thriving: 51.1% [95% CI, 46.2-56.0] vs 35.5% [95% CI, 32.6%-38.3%]) and with a mean (SE) estimated 2.6 (0.03) years shorter life expectancy. Among those with any family incarceration, Black respondents had a mean (SE) estimated 0.46 (0.04) fewer years of life expectancy compared with White respondents.Conclusions and relevanceThese findings suggest that family member health and well-being may be an important avenue through which incarceration is associated with racial disparities in health and mortality. Decarceration efforts may improve population-level well-being and life expectancy by minimizing detrimental outcomes associated with incarceration among nonincarcerated family members.

Dataset Information

Parental Incarceration and Child Overweight: Results From a Sample of Disadvantaged Children in the United States.

Publications

Parental Incarceration and Child Overweight: Results From a Sample of Disadvantaged Children in the United States.

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