The Influence of Gender on the Relationship Between Support Networks and Early Employment After Incarceration

This study investigates the role of informal social support specifically peer instrumental support, familial instrumental support, and familial emotional support in influencing short-term employment outcomes among formerly incarcerated individuals. This study investigates how informal social support, specifically familial emotional support, familial instrumental support, and peer instrumental support, influences employment outcomes during the critical three-month post-release period. Using data from Wave 2 of the federally funded Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI), logistic regression analyses were conducted on a sample of 1,122 adult participants (80% male, 20% female). Findings reveal that gender significantly predicts employment outcomes, with men being 61% more likely than women to secure employment within three months of release (OR = 1.61, p < 0.01). Peer instrumental support emerged as a significant positive predictor of employment (OR = 1.18, p < 0.05), although its effect did not vary by gender. In contrast, both familial instrumental support (OR = 1.08) and familial emotional support (OR = 0.83) were not significantly associated with employment outcomes, and gender did not moderate their effects. Education strongly influenced employment success, with individuals holding a high school diploma being nearly twice as likely to be employed (OR = 2.01, p < 0.01). Racial disparities were also evident, as black participants were significantly less likely than white participants to be employed (OR = 0.82, p < 0.1). Additionally, years incarcerated showed a small but significant positive association with employment (OR = 1.07, p < 0.05), contrary to commonly held expectations. These results suggest that peer networks may play a more critical role than family in facilitating early employment success among formerly incarcerated individuals. At the same time, structural inequalities particularly those related to gender, race and socioeconomic status (Lawanson et al.,2025) continue to shape reentry outcomes and merit focused attention from policymakers and reentry service providers.