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Objectives: I extend the life-course theory of cumulative disadvantage to focus on continuity in punishment across generations. Specifically, I examine (1) the association between paternal incarceration and elementary school suspension or expulsion and (2) the extent to which behavior problems and weakened social bonds explain this association. Method: Analyses rely on logistic regression, propensity score matching, and mediation methods with data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,201), a birth cohort of children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. Results: The odds of school punishment among children who had a residential father incarcerated by age 5 are 75 percent greater than the odds for children in a matched control group. About one third of this association is accounted for by behavior problems and weakened social bonds. Even after accounting for behavior problems and social bonds, children whose fathers were incarcerated are at greater risk of school punishment. Conclusions: I find evidence of an intergenerational stability of punishment and mixed support for an intergenerational extension to cumulative disadvantage theory. Paternal incarceration is associated with children’s likelihood of experiencing formal punishment in elementary school, and behavior problems and weakened social bonds explain part of this association

Caudillo and Cohen investigate how family structures have changed with rising opioid epidemic death rates

Although the decline in marriage has been cited as a possible contributor to the “despair” afflicting marginalized White communities, these studies have not directly considered mortality by marital status. This paper uses complete death certificate data from the Mortality Multiple Cause Files with American Community Survey data to examine age-specific mortality rates for married and non-married people from 2007 to 2017. The overall rise in White mortality is limited almost exclusively to those who are not married, for men and women. By comparison, mortality for Blacks and Hispanics has fallen or remained flat regardless of marital status (except for young, single Hispanic men). Analysis by education level shows death rates have risen most for Whites with the lowest education, but have also increased for those with high school or some college. Because mortality has risen faster for unmarried Whites at all but the lowest education levels, there has been an increase in the marriage mortality ratio. Mortality differentials are an increasingly important component of the social hierarchy associated with marital status.

Sangeetha Madhavan, African American Studies Department

Caryn N. Bell University of Maryland: Loneke T. Blackman Carr Duke University: 2019-006

The Impact of Parental Involvement Laws on the Abortion Rate of Minors

Infertility in low-income countries is an Untold Health Story

This year’s crabbing season is fraught with difficult choices for the nearly all-foreign-women workers during the pandemic hit

Sandra Hofferth and U.J. Moon, University of Maryland; 2012-009