2006 University of Michigan Poverty Research Grants
Funded research
Daphne Hernandez, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
Fathering and Relating Behind Bars: The Impact of Incarceration on Father Identity and Involvement, and Relationship Quality
Abstract
Few studies have focused on the effects of incarceration on father identity and their involvement with their children and the mothers of their children. This exploratory qualitative study of incarcerated fathers and the mothers of their children will begin to fill this gap in the literature.
About 40 fathers who are incarcerated in the Washtenaw County Jail in Ann Arbor, MI will be interviewed. About half of the sample will be recruited through parenting classes that are offered in the jail; the other half will be recruited from the general inmate population. A life-history approach will be used in the semi-structured interviews, allowing inmates to give detailed narratives about familial and socio-economic factors growing up, employment and social networks, father identity and involvement, and relationship quality with the child and mother. Genealogical methods will be used to explore varying attachments and economical and emotional contributions to household. Fathers will be asked to fill out a short survey at the end of the interview to explore their involvement with the criminal justice system and services that they are or have been involved while incarcerated.
A subset of the study focuses on the mothers of their children. Mother interviews focus on mother’s childhood, father’s employment and child support, father’s identity and involvement, and relationship quality. Qualitative content analysis will be used to analyze the interviews, and descriptive statistics will be used to summarize demographic and survey data.
The findings generated by this research will be of interest to a wide audience from developmental psychologists to policy-makers. First, the study will examine the processes by which childhood experiences help develop beliefs surrounding fatherhood. Specifically the focus on father’s economic and social network opportunities prior to incarceration and his level of agreement with the mother of his children could help inform child support policies and work incentive programs. The results from father-mother and father-child relationship quality could also inform policies surrounding father involvement and marriage.
