Kathryn Edin, Timothy J. Nelson,
and Rechelle Paranal
Abstract
This paper draws on data gleaned from in-depth,
repeated inter-views with approximately 200 low-income noncustodial
fathers in two U.S. cities. It focuses on two social problems
that have seldom been brought together in the same analysis:
father involvement (both economic and relational), and the impact
of men’s involvement with the criminal justice system. In
our sample, roughly one-third of respondents report being incarcerated
at least once during their life course. We look in detail at what
these respondents have to say about how their involvement with
the criminal justice system has affected their ability and willingness
to maintain economic and relational involvement with their noncustodial
children. We find that fathers believe incarceration has profound
effects on their relationships, both with their children, their
children’s mothers, and others within their social network
(their own mothers, for example) who may maintain some contact
with the child. In addition, we look at the accounts
of men who have not been incarcerated, the vast majority of whom
have been involved in criminal activity at some point in their
lifetime. We gathered detailed job histories for each of these
men, including both legal and illegal employment. We find that
once men become fathers and choose to activate the father role
with one or more of their children, their hierarchy of job preferences
changes dramatically. We argue that children are among the most
valued resources these fathers have, and that if they chose to
activate the fathering role, the desire to remain involved in
that child’s life often changes their career trajectory,
bringing them back into the formal economy, albeit at very low-level
jobs.
Kathryn Edin, Department
of Sociology, Northwestern University
Timothy J. Nelson, Department of Sociology,
Northwestern University
Rechelle Paranal, Institute for Policy Research,
Northwestern University
Click on
the working paper title at the top of this
page to download a free pdf of the paper.*
If You Need to Order a Hard Copy: Hard copies
of IPR working papers cost $5.00 each (international orders are $10 each). We only accept checks drawn on U.S. bank and payable in U.S. funds. Checks or money orders should be made
payable to Northwestern University and sent to the following address:
Publications Department - WP Orders
Institute for Policy Research
2040 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL 60208-4100.
For information, call 847-491-8712 or email ipr@northwestern.edu.
Please note that we do not accept credit cards.
*Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 (or higher) is needed to read the Acrobat pdf.
If you need to install Acrobat Reader, click the button below. Once the file
has downloaded onto your desktop, run it to install the reader on your hard
drive.
