No abstract

Neighborhoods are salient contexts for youth that shape adolescent development partly through informal social controls on their behavior. This research examines how immigrant concentration within and beyond the residential neighborhood influences adolescent alcohol use. Residential neighborhood immigrant concentration may lead to a cohesive, enclave-like community that protects against adolescent alcohol use. But heterogeneity in the immigrant concentrations characterizing the places residents visit as they engage in routine activities outside of the neighborhood where they live may weaken the social control benefits of the social ties and shared cultural orientations present in enclave communities. This study investigates whether the protective influence of residential neighborhood immigrant concentration on adolescent alcohol consumption diminishes when youth live in communities where residents collectively are exposed to areas with more diverse immigrant concentrations. This study tests this contention by analyzing survey and geographic routine activity space data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, and the 2000 census. The sample includes 793 adolescents (48.7% female, 16.5% foreign-born Latino, 42.5% US-born Latino, 11.0% black, 30% white/other) between the ages of 12 and 17 who live in 65 neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. Immigrant concentration among these neighborhoods derives primarily from Latin America. The results from multilevel models show that immigrant concentration protects against adolescent alcohol use only when there is low neighborhood-level diversity of exposures to immigrant concentration among the contexts residents visit outside of their residential neighborhood. This research highlights the importance of considering the effects of aggregate exposures to non-home contexts on adolescent wellbeing.

We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to expand knowledge about the impact of paternal incarceration on fathering in three specific ways: (a) we explore fathers’ involvement with children in middle childhood, (b) we examine the extent to which we observe similar reports of father involvement across mothers and fathers, and (c) we assess how paternal incarceration influences children’s own assessments of their relationships with their fathers. Results from propensity score models indicate that paternal incarceration is associated with decreased father involvement for children in middle childhood. Paternal incarceration has adverse effects on both mother and father reports of father involvement but the magnitude of the effect depends on which parent-report is considered. Interestingly, children’s assessments of their relationships with their fathers are relatively unaffected by fathers’ incarceration. Implications for research and policy regarding incarcerees’ families and children are discussed.

The link between exposure to violence in the home and children's later exhibition of violent behaviors is well documented in the criminological literature. To date, most research on partner violence (PV) and children's welfare has focused on adolescent outcomes. As such, we know little about how PV affects the behavior of the youngest, and perhaps most vulnerable population of children who have been exposed to PV. Our understanding of the PV-child behavior association is also limited because extant research has focused less attention on identifying risk factors that explain and modify the link between exposure to PV and children's behavior. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a five-wave longitudinal study of U.S.-born children ( N = 2,896) and structural equation modeling (SEM), to explore the impact of PV exposure on later aggressive behaviors. We extend the literature on PV exposure and childhood aggression in three ways: (a) We focus on young children's behavioral outcomes; (b) we identify child-parent attachment as a potential moderator of the PV-childhood aggression relationship; and (c) we investigate variation in the effect of PV exposure on children's aggressive behavior by children's attachment to parents. Findings support our hypotheses that exposure to PV during first 3 years of life is associated with increased aggression at age 5 and age 9. We find that the effect of PV on aggression at age 9 is fully mediated through the parent-child attachment. Contrary to our expectations, we do not find evidence of a strong parent-child attachment moderating the impact of PV exposure on children's aggressive behavior.

Becoming a father is a major benchmark in adulthood. Good parenting means being engaged, nurturing, and helpful, goals that are often shattered for fathers in contact with the criminal justice system. The relationship between this contact and fathering disproportionately affects the lives of unmarried fathers and non-Whites. The authors use Fragile Families survey data to explore fathers' engagement with their children. They extend research on crime and fathering by examining the effects of a range of contacts on the father-child relationship, and examining racial-ethnic differences in such contacts' effects on father engagement. They provide clear evidence that non-Whites are less engaged with their children on average, as are booked or incarcerated fathers. The negative effect of incarceration on engagement is worse for Blacks than Whites and Latinos, and the effect of being booked is worse for Blacks than Whites. The findings have implications for efforts to reintegrate fathers after incarceration.