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Primary Submission Category: Reproductive health
Association between parental incarceration and fertility trajectories among young adults
Authors: J’Mag Karbeah,
Presenting Author: J’Mag Karbeah*
Background: Experiences in childhood and adolescence have the potential to influence long-term fertility desires, fertility timing, and fertility outcomes for emerging adults. While there is a body of research that has explored how criminal offending impacts fertility outcomes of emerging adults, there is less research examining how parental incarceration (PI), a form of criminal legal system exposure that has been shown to have immediate and longitudinal impacts, may shape fertility trajectories.
Methods: The current study uses the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing study to examine whether young adults (mean age= 22.3) who experienced PI during early life (i.e., birth to age 15) have different fertility outcomes, fertility desires, and child spacing goals than their peers who have not experienced PI. We begin by conducting bivariate analyses examining the relationship between PI and our fertility outcomes of interest (e.g., having biological children, fertility desires, ideal family size, and intended birth spacing). Next we conducted logistic regressions to determine if there was an association between PI history and fertility desires. Next, we conducted ordered logistic regressions to examine potential relationships between PI history, ideal family size, and intended birth spacing (i.e., intended number of years between first or next birth).
Results: In our analytic sample (n=2,542) we find that individuals with parental incarceration histories were twice as likely (20.7% versus 10.3%) to have children at age 22 than their peers without this exposure.Among individuals without children, individuals with PI histories were just as likely to report not wanting to have children (10%) compared to peers without PI histories. In our ordered logistic regressions we find a statistically significant association between PI history and intended fertility timing. Youth who experienced PI and reported wanting children were more likely to report wanting to have children within the next two years (RRR=1.6; P<0.01; CI=1.1,2.4) than delay their first/birth 5 or more years.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that unlike peers who have not experienced parental incarceration, young adults who experience this exposure have different fertility desires and intentions. Considering how common parental incarceration exposure is in the US, investing in programmings that strengthen families impacted by incarceration may yield population-level benefits.