Quality of Co-Parent Relationship and Father Involvement with their Children in Men with Criminal Records

Abstract

This dissertation tests a hypothesized correlation between relationship quality and father involvement for unmarried fathers who have a criminal record. Additionally, this dissertation explores how relationship quality mediates or moderates the relationship between the father’s criminal conviction and level of involvement with children. Criminal conviction was measured in four ways: 1) any conviction record (yes/no), 2) total number of any convictions, 3) felony conviction record (yes/no), and 4) total number of felony convictions. In addition to criminal convictions, a number of covariates were analyzed in the models. Methodologically, this study consists of a secondary analysis of pre-survey and criminal history data from the Hennepin County Co-Parent Court Evaluation. Quantitative analyses of correlation analysis and multiple regression were used to address the hypotheses. Results show a correlation between the quality of the father’s relationship with the co-parent and the level of involvement with their children, measured as “relationship quality” and “father involvement.” However, there is not a correlation between criminal convictions and relationship quality or father involvement. Additional findings demonstrate the persistent relationship between covariates related to criminal convictions, relationship quality, and father involvement.