MOTHERHOOD AND CRIMINAL DESISTANCE IN DISADVANTAGED NEIGHBORHOODS*

Evidence from several qualitative studies has suggested that the transition to motherhood has strong inhibitory effects on the delinquency and drug use trajectories of poor women. Quantitative studies, however, typically have failed to find significant parenthood or motherhood effects. We argue that the latter research typically has not examined motherhood in disadvantaged settings or applied the appropriate statistical method. Focusing on within-individual change, we test the motherhood hypothesis using data from a 10-year longitudinal study of more than 500 women living in disadvantaged Denver communities. We find that the transition to motherhood is associated significantly with reductions in delinquency, marijuana, and alcohol behaviors. Moreover, we find that the effect of motherhood is larger than that of marriage for all outcomes. These results support the qualitative findings and suggest that the transition to motherhood—and not marriage—is the primary turning point for disadvantaged women to exit delinquent and drug-using trajectories.     

The Relationship Behavior Networks of Young Adults: A Test of the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence Hypothesis

The purpose of this study was to determine how negative relationship behaviors are structured in the semantic networks of young adults from violent versus nonviolent homes. Participants included 110 students (72 females and 38 males) from a large Midwestern university who were enrolled in an introductory psychology class. They completed a sorting task that involved relationship behavior stimuli. As hypothesized, differences were found in the composite sorting patterns, as represented by multidimensional scaling (MDS) solutions, for three different groups categorized by their family-of-origin violence history (i.e., nonvictimized by/did not witness parental violence, None; victimized only, Victim; and both witnessed/victimized, Both). Interpretations of the MDS solutions revealed different associations between violent and nonviolent conflict behaviors for victimized versus nonvictimized individuals, suggesting different semantic associations for conflict for individuals in the two groups. In a second set of analyses, separate solutions were generated for perpetrating and nonperpetrating individuals from violent families. Perpetrator and nonperpetrator solutions were also found to differ significantly. These findings suggest that relationship-specific semantic networks are associated with both past and current experiences with violence. One interpretation of these findings is that cognitive differences, generated in the family of origin, may serve to perpetuate a cycle of violence in subsequent romantic relationships.     

Cutting the Grass: A Reexamination of the Link between Marital Attachment,Delinquent Peers and Desistance from Marijuana Use

Recent work indicates that marriage contributes to desistance from crime. However, two prominent interpretations of this relationship have been offered. The first, rooted in informal control theory, suggests that the marriage effect is a direct result of social bonds that tend to accompany matrimony. The second contends that the effect is indirect and due to the impact of marriage on patterns of delinquent peer association. Using data from waves 5 and 6 of the National Youth Survey, this study re-analyzes these interpretations by examining the relationship between marital attachment, delinquent peer association and desistance from marijuana use. Although change in delinquent peer association is a powerful predictor of marijuana desistance, findings are also consistent with the control theory interpretation of the marriage effect. Implications and limitations of the current study are noted.A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2000 meeting of the American Society of Criminology in San Francisco, CA.     

SELF‐CONTROL,SOCIAL BONDS,AND DESISTANCE: A TEST OF LIFE‐COURSE INTERDEPENDENCE

Theoretical debates and empirical tests on the explanation of stability and change in offending over time have been ongoing for over a decade pitting Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) criminal propensity model against Sampson and Laub's (1993) life‐course model of informal social control. In 2001, Wright and his colleagues found evidence of a moderating relationship between criminal propensity, operationalized as self‐control, and prosocial ties on crime, a relationship they term life‐course interdependence. The current study extends their research by focusing on this moderating relationship and the developmental process of desistance from crime among serious juvenile delinquents. Contrary to the life‐course interdependence hypothesis, the results indicate that whereas self‐control and social bonds are strongly related to desistance from crime, there is no evidence of a moderating relationship between these two factors on desistance among this sample. The implications of this research for life‐course theories of crime, future research, and policies regarding desistance are discussed.     

Examining the Sources of Variation in Risk for Recidivism

This research explores the correlates of desistance and recidivism among a modern cohort of men released from prison. Using eight years of follow‐up data, we estimate a series of multivariate models to differentiate offenders who recidivate in the short term from men who failed after an extended period or who do not return to criminal behavior at all. Consistent with research of this type, the odds of recidivism increased sharply after release and leveled off over time. In addition, younger men with more extensive criminal histories were the least likely to desist and failed early in the release period. The results also reveal heterogeneity in patterns of recidivism over the short and long term, and highlight the importance of post‐release context in understanding prisoner reentry.     

Attitudes and Family Violence: Linking Intergenerational and Cultural Theories

Drawing on intergenerational transmission and cultural (attitudinal) theories, this study examines the extent to which attitudes help explain (1) the relationship between experiencing violence while growing up and subsequent violence against one amp apose;s children and spouse, and(2) demographic differences in violence. Structural equation modeling techniques are used to examine data from a representative sample of the general population and a sample of ex-offenders. The findings indicate that experiencing violence while growing up is related to favorable attitudes towards violence against spouses. The experience of violence while growing up and attitudes are related to violence against both children and spouses. The relationship between experiencing violence while growing up and engaging in violence against spouses is mediated by attitudes. The results also suggest that men and nonwhites are more approving of violence towards spouses. However, attitudes do not account for demographic differences in violence against children and spouses.     

Family-of-origin characteristics and current family relationships of female adult incest victims

Past and present family relationships of a group of female adult incest victims were examined. The sample consisted of 40 women who were, at the time of assessment, in treatment for childhood experiences of incest. The majority of these women viewed their families-of-origin as generally unhealthy in regard to various dimensions of autonomy and intimacy. Current relationships with their families-of-origin were characterized by less intimacy and more intimidation, triangulation, and fusion than a normed group. Some of these patterns were also evident in the families-of-procreation of these women, including greater triangulation and less spousal intimacy. The subjects also perceived their families-of-procreation as disengaged, controlling, less active in events outside the family, conflict-ridden, and lacking in organization and emotional expressiveness. Finally, based on a circumplex model, a significant number of families-of-procreation were in the extreme range of family functioning.     

Factors Mediating the Link Between Witnessing Interparental Violence and Dating Violence

The present study examined several protective and vulnerability factors in a subsample of adolescents who witnessed high levels of interparental violence to determine what factors differentiated adolescents who inflicted (and received) violence in their dating relationship and those who had violence-free dating relationships. Findings revealed that males who witnessed high levels of interparental violence, who inflicted violence in their dating relationships, were differentiated from those who had violence-free relationships by the following variables: low socioeconomic status, exposure to community and school violence, acceptance of violence in dating relationships, and low self-esteem. Low socioeconomic status and acceptance of violence in dating relationships differentiated males who experienced dating violence and those who had not. With regard to females, exposure to community and school violence, poor school performance, and experiencing child abuse differentiated those who inflicted dating violence from those who had not, while poor school performance and experiencing child abuse differentiated females who experienced dating violence and those who had not. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Intergenerational offending in Liverpool and the north-west of England, 1850–1914

Using contemporary sources from the north-west of England in the Victorian period, the authors examine the putative connections made by contemporaries which linked together ‘bad’ parenting and the transmission of criminal traits. Poor parenting practices were a prevalent explanation for juvenile (leading onto sustained) delinquency, especially in the mid to late nineteenth century. Popular narratives by Charles Dickens and media opinion-formers were very influential in depicting neglectful mothers who did not socialise their children into law-abiding, useful members of society, and criminal fathers who inducted their children into their own criminal affairs and organisations. This article examines the reality of intergenerational offending (using prison- and court-generated data) to show that there is very little convincing research that proves direct intergenerational transmission of offending practices (i.e. parent-to-child-offending transmission). The authors then examine other possible routes of intergenerational offending using case studies and archival research, and the article concludes that environmental/socio-economic conditions and wider familial/neighbourhood relationships were, in fact, the main trigger for onset of offending, and the maintenance of criminal careers, rather than direct familial transmission. The article is therefore an important marker in understanding the processes which inhibit/generate criminality in a significant number of juvenile offenders in this period.