The Intergenerational Stability of Punishment: Paternal Incarceration and Suspension or Expulsion in Elementary School

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.