Parental Incarceration and Child Well-being: Conceptual and Practical Concerns Regarding the Use of Propensity Scores.

ABSTRACT: The aim of the current investigation was to examine the appropriateness of propensity score methods for the study of incarceration effects on children by directing attention to a range of conceptual and practical concerns, including the exclusion of theoretically meaningful covariates, the comparability of treatment and control groups, and potential ambiguities resulting from researcher-driven analytic decisions. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we examined the effects of maternal and paternal incarceration on a range of child well-being outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test scores, and early juvenile delinquency. Our findings suggested that propensity scores and treatment effect estimates are h

SUBMITTER: Copp JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6836432 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature