Date of Award
Summer 8-1-2014
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
PhD Counseling Psychology
Department
Psychology
Advisor
Laura Palmer, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Cheryl Thompson-Sard, Ph.D.
Committee Member
John Smith, Ed.D.
Committee Member
Corinne Datchi, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Daniel Cruz, Ph.D.
Keywords
incarceration, recidivism, prison, fatherhood, relationships, protective-factors
Abstract
Of the men who return home from prison, nearly 7 out of 10 will be re-arrested and sent back within 3 years of their release (Travis, Solomon, & Waul, 2001). This trend has large- scale implications, not just for individuals, but for their families and communities as well. Clearly, understanding the factors that contribute to a man’s success or failure in staying out of prison is extremely important in constructing policy and programs to assist these at-risk individuals and communities. Of the few studies that have explored the lives of previously incarcerated men, some have found fatherhood to be a salient factor (Arditti, Smock, & Parkman, 2005). The current study investigated this particular relationship by looking at the father’s perceived quality of the father-child bond, and how that relationship is related to the fathers’ risk for re-offending. The study also investigated the contribution that social and individual factors play in facilitating the father-child bond, as well as the contribution that those factors may make in predicting recidivism risk; specifically, the father’s own experience of being parented, the quality of communication they have with their child’s mother, their perception of social support, and individual factors associated with motivation to change. The study found empirical evidence to suggest that a positive father-child bond may reduce recidivism risk for previously incarcerated men. In addition, the study found that the father-child relationship may be a more significant predictor of recidivism risk than individual characteristics, intergenerational influences, co-parental communication, or social support alone. This evidence suggests that the father-child relationship is not only an important familial tie that can be correlated with better re-entry, but may be a potentially salient area for future intervention to aid this at-risk group of men, their families, and communities.
Recommended Citation
Maley, Larissa A., "The Fatherhood Factor: The Impact of the Father-Child Relationship on the Social, Interpersonal, and Recidivism Risk Factors of Previously Incarcerated Men" (2014). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 1960.
https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/1960
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