Mass Incarceration and Children’s Health: A State-Level Anal… : Family & Community Health

Kid’s health and fitness indicators this sort of as mortality and adverse beginning outcomes are poorer in the United States than in similar nations. These measures also display racial inequities in just the United States, with Black youngsters going through the highest concentrations. Mass incarceration may possibly partly explain these conclusions. Significant incarceration costs can disrupt neighborhood functioning, influencing behavior and health and fitness. The objective of the recent study was to carry out a macro (point out)-degree analysis analyzing irrespective of whether annually point out incarceration costs predict health and fitness outcomes including infant, little one, and teen mortality as effectively as preterm beginning and reduced beginning weight. It was hypothesized that prior calendar year incarceration costs would display positive relationships with all outcomes and that relationships would be stronger for Black than for white youngsters. Annually point out-degree panel information were collected from 1990 to 2017. Weighted least squares regression applied states’ prior calendar year incarceration costs to predict little one health and fitness outcomes, employing controls for total point out results and calendar year-to-calendar year results. Time-different covariates this sort of as point out unemployment amount were also involved to handle the likelihood of spurious relationships. Success indicated that as hypothesized, incarceration costs positively predicted infant mortality, little one mortality (for Black youngsters only), preterm births, and reduced-weight births. Relationships tended to be stronger for Black than for white youngsters.