Criminality and family formation: Effects of marriage and parenthood on criminal behaviour for men and women

M.V. Zoutewelle-Terovan; V. van der Geest; A.C. Liefbroer; C. Bijleveld

doi:10.1177/0011128712441745

Criminality and family formation: Effects of marriage and parenthood on criminal behaviour for men and women

M.V. Zoutewelle-Terovan, V. van der Geest, A.C. Liefbroer, C. Bijleveld

Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1209-1234
Journal	Crime & Delinquency
Volume	60
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128712441745
Publication status	Published - 2014

Keywords

criminality
family formation
Effects of marriage
effects of and parenthood
SSCI

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10.1177/0011128712441745

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title = "Criminality and family formation: Effects of marriage and parenthood on criminal behaviour for men and women",

abstract = "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. ",

keywords = "criminality, family formation, Effects of marriage, effects of and parenthood, SSCI",

author = "M.V. Zoutewelle-Terovan and {van der Geest}, V. and A.C. Liefbroer and C. Bijleveld",

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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

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JO - Crime and Delinquency

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