Abstract: The Role of Child Contact during Imprisonment and Its Effect on Fathers' Reports of Parental Efficacy (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

Schedule:

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Marquis BR Salon 14, ML 2 (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)

* noted as presenting author

Branden McLeod, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

Pajarita Charles, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

Aaron Gottlieb, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Luke Muentner, PhD, Corrections and Reentry Researcher, RTI International

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to 1) examine how contact between incarcerated fathers and their children affects fathers’ views of their parenting efficacy and 2) investigate whether these associations vary by incarceration status.

Methods

The study sample derives from the Multisite Family Study on Incarceration, Partnering, and Parenting (MFS-IP). The MFS-IP is a longitudinal study that evaluated the implementation and impact of family-strengthening programs on relationship and incarceration trajectories for nearly 2,000 incarcerated and reentering men located in five states. The present study’s sample focused on fathers in the MFS-IP dataset (n = 1,720). Multivariate ordinary least squares regression models were conducted to examine: 1) the effects of child contact (i.e., letters, calls, and in-person visits) at baseline on fathers’ reports of their efficacy in parenting at the nine-month and 2) whether the effects of different types of contact varied by father's incarceration status. To address the second question, we added interaction terms between the different types of contact and father's incarceration status (i.e., incarcerated versus released) to the original multivariate model.

Results

The study’s findings indicate that among the contact types, in-person visits had a positive and significant effect on fathers’ views of their parental efficacy after controlling for demographic, familial, and carceral characteristics. Moreover, receiving letters had a positive and marginally significant effect on fathers’ views of their parental efficacy, after accounting for control variables. Results from models including interaction terms suggest that the effects of different types of contact on father's perceptions of efficacy do not vary based on whether fathers were currently incarcerated or released.

Conclusions

This study provides insights to correctional personnel and policymakers, indicating that family contact is an essential component of family-strengthening services and beneficial for incarcerated fathers and their children. Importantly, this suggests that efforts should be made to make it easier for fathers to have contact with their children, both in the form of in-person visits and through letters.