Stability and Change: Income Packaging among Partners of Incarcerated Men

A burgeoning body of literature documents the economic consequences of men’s incarceration for their families, yet we know little about how the predominantly poor, minority women heading these families modify their behaviors in response to the economic hardships they experience. To address this question, I use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and latent class regression analysis to characterize four groups of women who modify their income generating strategies in diverse ways during the time their partners are incarcerated. The analysis combines information on changes in women’s employment, receipt of public assistance, receipt of financial support from family and friends, and shared residence to explore the multiple strategies women employ following their partners’ imprisonment and how these pieces fit together and shift in conjunction with each other over time. Results indicate that women not only modify their income packages in diverse ways, but the types of changes women make to their strategies are determined largely by factors indicating social class: women’s educational attainment and household income. Even the most advantaged women are not insulated from the need to alter their strategies for making ends meet.