Critique of a Research Article about Incarceration in the...

Background In a study of children that had a family member or family associate incarcerated prior to their 18th birthday, Loper Nichols (2012) attempted to address the impact that such incarceration had on such children. It was expected, consistent with previous literature, that household incarceration would have an impact on academic outcomes. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relationship between household incarceration and two outcomes: failure to graduate high school and extended school absence. Loper and Nichols (2012) examined three factors: 1. If youth with incarcerated household members experienced more social and economic adversity and worse school outcomes than the rest of the sample. 2. Whether household member†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, this influence is not only related to the parents’ influence, but is extended to other close relationship’s in the child’s household. Other theories that may explain how incarceration has an impact on children are strain, attachment, social control, and stigma. Loper and Nichols hypothesized that household incarceration would have a great impact on academic outcomes of the children in the household. Methods There were several relevant variables used in this study. The control variables used were demographic, socioeconomic, and other adversity variables such as sex, ethnicity, poverty status, mother’s educational attainment, cognitive ability, and home environment quality. The dependent variables in this study were related to academic outcomes such as extended absences and failure to graduate from high school. The independent variables used were parental incarceration, sibling incarceration, and other household member’s incarceration (Loper and Nichols, 2012). The study by Lopers and Nichols was a longitudinal, study design using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Child and Youth survey (NLSY 2010), which included women and their children. According to Lopers and Nichols, â€Å"Out of the sample, 585 met criteria for the household incarceration status, to be compared to 2,753 individuals who did not experience household incarceration† (p. 5). Furth ermore, itShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Parental Incarceration On Children3942 Words   |  16 Pages The Effects of Parental Incarceration on their Children Darlene Oliver May 4, 2016 The University of the District of Columbia Introduction The number of children with incarcerated parents continues to increase, thus the long-term ramifications of parental incarceration has become a topic of interest to many concerned people. In addition to understanding the effects of parental incarceration on children, school officials and penal institutions must be involved