Current Research

My work focuses on the prevalence, causes, and consequences of contact with the criminal legal system and the child welfare system for families. More specifically, most of my research falls into three main categories. First, much of my work estimates how common family member incarceration is and how family member incarceration, especially paternal incarceration and romantic partner incarceration, shapes the health and wellbeing of women and children, with a new emphasis on the intergenerational transmission of criminal justice contact. Second, much of my work examines how incarceration, and especially the conditions of confinement individuals are exposed to while incarcerated, shape health and wellbeing both during and after incarceration. Third, some of my more recent research estimates how common several stages of Child Protective Services contact are and what the long-term consequences of this contact are for children.

Three new projects build off these core interests:

1. I am working on a series of papers with Martin Eiermann, Garrett Baker, and Hedwig Lee using Add Health data to better understand the co-occurrence and patterning of child maltreatment and foster care placement, as well as considering their ramifications for long-run health and wellbeing. 

2. With Robert Apel, Martin Eiermann, and Alexandra Gibbons, and in collaboration with NORC and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I am creating a new variable that distinguishes prison and jail incarceration in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth. This project seeks to understand how jail relative to prison incarceration shapes health, labor market, and familial outcomes, and to quantify how each contributes to macro-level disparities. 

3. Finally, Garrett Baker, Sarah Jobe, and I recently developed and administered a new survey, the Family Incarceration Costs Survey (FICS). The FICS survey provides the first national estimates of the various costs associated with having a family member in jail or prison.

For some of my recent publications on these topics, see below.

Recent Articles

Wakefield, Sara, Garrett Baker, and Christopher Wildeman. Forthcoming. “The Consequences of Sibling Criminal Legal System Contact for Family Life.” Journal of Marriage and Family.

Boch, Samantha J., Christopher Wildeman, Judith W. Dexheimer, Robert S. Kahn, Joshua Lambert, and Sarah J. Beal. Forthcoming. “Pediatric Health and System Impacts of Mass Incarceration, 2009-2020: A Matched Cohort Study.” Academic Pediatrics.

Wildeman, Christopher, and Robert J. Sampson. 2024. “Desistance as an Intergenerational Process.” Annual Review of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-022422-015936

Wildeman, Christopher, Robert J. Sampson, and Garrett Baker. 2024. “Adult Children of the Prison Boom: Family Troubles and the Intergenerational Transmission of Criminal Justice Contact.” Demography 61:141-164. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-11153107

Fitzpatrick, Maria D., Lars H. Andersen, and Christopher Wildeman. 2024. “How Does Visitation Affect Incarcerated Persons and Their Families? Estimates Using Exogenous Variation in Visits Driven by Distance Between Home and Prison.” Journal of Human Resources 59:389-415. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.0620-10951R3

Roehrkasse, Alexander F., Liza Becker, Christopher Wildeman, and Peter Fallesen. 2023. “Introducing a New Data Resource for Comparative Child Welfare Research: The Rockwool-Duke Global Child Welfare Database.” Children and Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107075

Yi, Youngmin, Frank R. Edwards, Natalia Emanuel, Jane Waldfogel, John M. Leventhal, Hedwig Lee, and Christopher Wildeman. 2023. “State-Level Variation in the Cumulative Prevalence of Child Welfare Contact, 2014-2019.” Children and Youth Services Review 147:106832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106832

Roehrkasse, Alexander F., and Christopher Wildeman. 2022. “Lifetime Risk of Imprisonment Remains High and Starkly Unequal in the United States.” Science Advances 8:eabo3395. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo3395

Brew, Bridget, Frances Alani, Huixian Li, and Christopher Wildeman. 2022. “Sticky Stigma: The Impact of Incarceration on Perceptions of Personality Traits and Deservingness.” Social Forces 100:1910-1934. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soab091

Lee, Hedwig, and Christopher Wildeman. 2021. “Assessing Mass Incarceration's Effects on Families." Science 374:277-281. doi: 10.1126/science.abj7777

Edwards, Frank R., Sara Wakefield, Kieran Healy, and Christopher Wildeman. 2021. “Contact with Child Protective Services is Pervasive but Unequally Distributed by Race and Ethnicity in Large US Counties.” PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118:e2106272118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2106272118

Wildeman, Christopher and Hedwig Lee. 2021. “Women’s Health in the Era of Mass Incarceration.” Annual Review of Sociology 47:543-565.” doi: 10.1146/annurev-soc-081320-113303

Putnam-Hornstein, Emily, Eunhye Ahn, John Prindle, Joseph Magruder, Daniel Webster, and Christopher Wildeman. 2021. “Cumulative Rates of Child Protection Involvement and Terminations of Parental Rights in a California Birth Cohort, 1999–2017.” American Journal of Public Health 111(6):1157-1163. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306214

Sundaresh, Ram, Youngmin Yi, Tyler D. Harvey, Brita Roy, Carley Riley, Hedwig Lee, Christopher Wildeman, and Emily A. Wang. 2021. “Exposure to Family Member Incarceration and Adult Well-being in the United States.” JAMA Network Open 4(5):e2111821-e2111821. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.11821

Yi, Youngmin, Josephy Kennedy, Cynthia Chazotte, Mary Huynh, Yang Jiang, and Christopher Wildeman. 2021. “Paternal Jail Incarceration and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from New York City, 2010–2016.” Maternal and Child Health Journal: 1-21. doi: 10.1007/s10995-021-03168-6

Wakefield, Sara, and Christopher Wildeman. 2021. “Structural Racism, Poverty, and Sexism Shape the History of And the Response to Childhood Maltreatment Among Incarcerated Individuals." American Journal of Public Health e1-e3. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306436

Anker, Anne Sofie Tegner and Christopher Wildeman. 2021. “Family Visitation Patterns during Incarceration in Denmark.” Journal of Family Issues: 1-24. doi: 10.1177/0192513X21991187

Wildeman, Christopher and Hedwig Lee. 2021. “Women’s Health in the Era of Mass Incarceration.” Annual Review of Sociology. doi: 10.1146/annurev-soc-081320-113303

Anker, Anne Sofie Tegner, Lars H. Andersen, and Christopher Wildeman. 2020. “Estimating and Explaining Ethnic Disparities in the Cumulative Risk of Paternal Incarceration in Denmark.” Demographic Research 43(22):617–58. doi: 10.4054/DemRes.2020.43.22

Hawks, Laura, Candace Cosgrove, Mathew Neiman, Brita Roy, Christopher Wildeman, Sean Coady, and Emily A. Wang. 2020. “Five-Year Mortality among Americans Incarcerated in Privatized Versus Public Prisons: The Mortality Disparities in American Communities Project.” Journal of General Internal Medicine. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-06057-w.

Sundaresh, Ram, Youngmin Yi, Brita Roy, Carley Riley, Tyler D. Harvey, Hedwig Lee, Christopher Wildeman, and Emily A. Wang. 2020. “Family Member Incarceration and Wellbeing: A National Cross-sectional Study.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 35(SUPPL 1):S130-S131.

Yi, Youngmin, Frank R. Edwards, and Christopher Wildeman. 2020. “Cumulative Prevalence of Confirmed Maltreatment and Foster Care Placement for US Children by Race/Ethnicity, 2011–2016.” American Journal of Public Health 110(5):704–9. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305554

Wildeman, Christopher, and Lars H. Andersen. 2020. “Solitary Confinement Placement and Post-Release Mortality Risk among Formerly Incarcerated Individuals: A Population-Based Study.” The Lancet Public Health 5(2):e107–13. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(19)30271-3

Wildeman, Christopher, Frank R. Edwards, and Sara Wakefield. 2020. “The Cumulative Prevalence of Termination of Parental Rights for U.S. Children, 2000–2016.” Child Maltreatment 25(1):32–42. doi: 10.1177/1077559519848499

Wildeman, Christopher. 2020. “The Intergenerational Transmission of Criminal Justice Contact.” Annual Review of Criminology 3:217-244. doi: 10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041519

Sundaresh, Ram, Youngmin Yi, Brita Roy, Carley Riley, Christopher Wildeman, and Emily A. Wang. 2020. “Exposure to the US Criminal Legal System and Well-Being: A 2018 Cross-Sectional Study.” American Journal of Public Health 110(S1):S116–22. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305414

Enns, Peter K., Youngmin Yi, Megan Comfort, Alyssa Goldman, Hedwig Lee, Christopher Muller, Sara Wakefield, Emily A. Wang, and Christopher Wildeman. 2019. “What Percentage of Americans Have Ever Had a Family Member Incarcerated? Evidence from the Family History of Incarceration Survey (FamHIS).” Socius 6. doi: 10.1177/2378023119829332

Wildeman, Christopher, Alyssa Goldman, and Hedwig Lee. 2019. “Health Consequences of Family Member Incarceration for Adults in the Household.” Public Health Reports 134:15S- 21S. doi: 10.1177/0033354918807974

Wildeman, Christopher, Alyssa Goldman, and Emily A. Wang. 2019. “Age-Standardized Mortality of Persons on Probation, in Jail, or in State Prison and the General Population, 15 US States, 2001-2012.” Public Health Reports 134:660-666. doi: 10.1177/0033354919879732

Wang, Emily A., Jessica B. Long, Kathleen A. McGinnis, Karen H. Wang, Christopher Wildeman, Clara Kim, Kristofer B. Bucklen, David Fiellin, Jonathan Bates, Cynthia Brandt, and Amy C. Justice. 2019. “Measuring Exposure to Incarceration Using the Electronic Health Record.” Medical Care 57:S157-S163. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001049

Roehrkasse, Alexander F., and Christopher Wildeman. 2019. “Administrative Data and Long-Term Trends in Child Maltreatment: The Prospects and Pitfalls.” Lancet Public Health 4:e121-e122. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(19)30022-2

Wildeman, Christopher. 2019. “How Badly Do We Undercount Chronic Maltreatment, and How Much Should Clinicians Care?” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 58:1152-1153. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2019.07.004

Branigan, Amelia R., and Christopher Wildeman. 2019. “Parental Incarceration and Child Overweight: Results from a Sample of Disadvantaged Children in the United States.” Public Health Reports 134:363-370. doi: 10.1177/0033354919854448

Yi, Youngmin, and Christopher Wildeman. 2018. “Can Foster Care Interventions Diminish Justice System Inequality?” Future of Children 28:37-58.

Wildeman, Christopher, Maria D. Fitzpatrick, and Alyssa Goldman. 2018. “Conditions of Confinement in American Prisons and Jails.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 14:29-47. doi: 10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-101317-031025

Wildeman, Christopher, Alyssa Goldman, and Kristin Turney. 2018. “Parental Incarceration and Child Health in the United States.” Epidemiologic Reviews 40:146-156. doi: 10.1093/epirev/mxx013

Wildeman, Christopher. 2018. “The Incredibly Credible Prevalence of Child Protective Services Contact in New Zealand and the United States.” American Journal of Public Health 108:438-439. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304313

Edwards, Frank R., and Christopher Wildeman. 2018. “Characteristics of the Front-Line Child Welfare Workforce.” Children and Youth Services Review 89:13-26. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.04.013

Turney, Kristin, and Christopher Wildeman. 2018. “Maternal Incarceration and Family Functioning in Fragile Families.” Social Forces 96:1155-1182. doi: 10.1093/sf/sox070

Selected Earlier Works

Wildeman, Christopher and Emily A. Wang. 2017. “Mass Incarceration, Public Health, and Widening Inequality in the US.” The Lancet 389:1464-1474.

Wildeman, Christopher, and Signe Hald Andersen. 2017. “Paternal Incarceration and Children’s Risk of Being Charged by Early Adulthood: Evidence from a Danish Policy Shock.” Criminology 55:32-58.

Wildeman, Christopher. 2016. “Incarceration and Population Health in Wealthy Democracies.” Criminology 54:360-382.

Wildeman, Christopher, and Kristin Turney. 2014. “Positive, Negative, or Null? The Effects of Maternal Incarceration on Children’s Behavioral Problems.” Demography 51:1041-1068.

Wildeman, Christopher, and Jane Waldfogel. 2014. “Somebody’s Children or Nobody’s Children? How the Sociological Perspective Could Enliven Research on Foster Care.” Annual Review of Sociology 40:599-618.

Wildeman, Christopher, Natalia Emanuel, John M. Leventhal, Emily PutnamHornstein, Jane Waldfogel, and Hedwig Lee. 2014. “The Prevalence of Confirmed Maltreatment Among US Children, 2004-2011.” JAMA Pediatrics 168:706-713.

Turney, Kristin, and Christopher Wildeman. 2013 “Redefining Relationships: Explaining the Countervailing Consequences of Paternal Incarceration for Parenting Quality.” American Sociological Review 78:949-979.

Wakefield, Sara, and Christopher Wildeman. 2013. Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality. New York: Oxford University Press

Wildeman, Christopher, Jason Schnittker, and Kristin Turney. 2012. “Despair by Association? The Mental Health of Mothers with Children by Recently Incarcerated Fathers.” American Sociological Review 77:216-243.

Wildeman, Christopher. 2009. “Parental Imprisonment, the Prison Boom, and the Concentration of Childhood Disadvantage.” Demography 46:265-280.