TY - JOUR
T1 - Criminality and family formation: Effects of marriage and parenthood on criminal behaviour for men and women
AU - Zoutewelle-Terovan, M.V.
AU - van der Geest, V.
AU - Liefbroer, A.C.
AU - Bijleveld, C.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - In this article, the authors study the effects of family formation on criminal careers for 540 high-risk men and women in the Netherlands. In a prospective design, spanning 21 years, the authors analyzed complete data on offending, marriage, parenthood, and a large set of background information. Random effects were used to model the relation between family-life events and offending, controlling for possible confounders. Findings for men support the hypothesis that marriage promotes desistance from serious offending. Males additionally benefit from parenthood, and from having a first child in particular. Furthermore, although parenthood reduces offending more strongly than marriage, the “full family package” brings the most benefit. Female offending patterns were not significantly influenced by marital status or motherhood.
AB - In this article, the authors study the effects of family formation on criminal careers for 540 high-risk men and women in the Netherlands. In a prospective design, spanning 21 years, the authors analyzed complete data on offending, marriage, parenthood, and a large set of background information. Random effects were used to model the relation between family-life events and offending, controlling for possible confounders. Findings for men support the hypothesis that marriage promotes desistance from serious offending. Males additionally benefit from parenthood, and from having a first child in particular. Furthermore, although parenthood reduces offending more strongly than marriage, the “full family package” brings the most benefit. Female offending patterns were not significantly influenced by marital status or motherhood.
KW - criminality
KW - family formation
KW - Effects of marriage
KW - effects of and parenthood
KW - SSCI
U2 - 10.1177/0011128712441745
DO - 10.1177/0011128712441745
M3 - Article
VL - 60
SP - 1209
EP - 1234
JO - Crime and Delinquency
JF - Crime and Delinquency
SN - 0011-1287
IS - 8
ER -