Abstract
This project is an exploratory quantitative secondary data analysis utilizing data from the 2020 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) (N=29,457). This study analyzes the relationship between parental incarceration and child scholastic outcomes through the lens of academic motivation, success, and extracurricular engagement. Survey participants’ responses to select variables were evaluated to determine the potential relationship between exposure to parental incarceration and scholastic outcomes using bivariate statistical tests and multivariate logistic regression. Findings confirm that parental incarceration is statistically correlated with decreases in child academic motivation and all aspects of extracurricular engagement. Implications for social work practice, policy, and research are discussed to guide future endeavors in this field of study.