Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Relationship Status, Romantic Relationship Quality, Monitoring, and Antisocial Influence: Is There an Effect on Subsequent Offending?

  • ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • Published:
Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The current study examines the effect of men’s romantic relationship status on self-reported offending and examines the quality of romantic relationships, monitoring, and antisocial influence on self-reported offending.

Methods

Data from the 72-month and 84-month follow-ups of the Pathways to Desistance study were analyzed to examine the effect of romantic relationship status on self-reported offending and to examine quality of romantic relationships, monitoring, and antisocial influence on self-reported offending. Negative binomial regression models were used.

Results

The main finding, although marginally significant, was that at higher levels of quality of relationships, self-reported offending was lower. Impulsivity was significantly and positively associated with self-reported offending in both the romantic relationship status and the quality of romantic relationship models. Prior offending was significantly associated with higher levels of self-reported offending in both analyses. Additionally, in the romantic relationship status model, as respondents aged, their self-reported offending was reduced.

Conclusions

Results indicated that the quality of romantic relationships is important, more so than strictly the romantic relationship itself. However, the results suggest that impulsivity, peer delinquency, and prior self-reported offending are also important, at least for this high-risk sample. We discuss limitations and future research directions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The overall alpha for quality of romantic relationship subscale was α = .69. At the 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month follow-ups, the quality of relationship subscale was found to have good internal consistency (0.78, 0.80, 0.81, and 0.83, respectively; [49]). Information is not available for the individual monitoring and antisocial influence subscales.

References

  1. Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & Rudolph, J. L. (2002). Gender, crime, and desistence: toward a theory of cognitive transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 107(4), 990–1064.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. King, R. D., Massoglia, M., & MacMillan, R. (2007). The context of marriage and crime: gender, the propensity to marry, and offending in early adulthood. Criminology, 45(1), 33–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1993). Crime in the making: pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2003). Life-course desisters? Trajectories of crime among delinquent boys followed to age 70. Criminology, 41(3), 301–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Horney, J., Osgood, D. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1995). Criminal careers in the short-term: intra-individual variability in crime and its relation to local life circumstances. American Sociological Review, 60(5), 655–673.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Laub, J. H., Nagin, D. S., & Sampson, R. J. (1998). Trajectories of change in criminal offending: good marriages and the desistence process. American Sociological Review, 63(2), 225–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings, divergent lives: delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  8. McCarthy, B., & Casey, T. (2008). Love, sex, and crime: adolescent romantic relationships and offending. American Sociological Review, 73, 944–969.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Meeus, W., Branje, S., & Overbeek, G. J. (2004). Parents and partners in crime: a six year longitudinal study on changes in supportive relationships and delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 45(7), 1288–1298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sampson, R. J., Laub, J. H., & Wimer, C. (2006). Does marriage reduce crime? A counterfactual approach to within-individual causal effects. Criminology, 44(3), 465–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Theobald, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2009). Effects of getting married on offending: results from a prospective longitudinal survey of males. European Journal of Criminology, 6(6), 496–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. McGloin, J. M., Sullivan, C. J., Piquero, A. R., Blokland, A., & Nieuwbeerta, P. (2011). Marriage and offending specialization: expanding the impact of turning points and the process of desistance. European Journal of Criminology, 8(5), 361–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Glueck, S., & Glueck, E. (1968). Delinquents and nondelinquents in perspective. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  14. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1990). Crime and deviance over the life course: the salience of adult social bonds. American Sociological Review, 55(5), 609–627.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Maruna, S. (2001). Making good: how ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  16. Bersani, B. E., & Doherty, E. E. (2013). When the ties that bind unwind: examining the enduring and situational processes of change behind the marriage effect. Criminology, 51(2), 399–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Fleming, C. B., White, H. R., & Catalano, R. F. (2010). Romantic relationships and substance use in early adulthood: an examination of the influences of relationship type, partner substance use, and relationship quality. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(2), 153–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Haynie, D. L., Giordano, P. C., Manning, W. D., & Longmore, M. A. (2005). Adolescent romantic relationships and delinquency involvement. Criminology, 43(1), 177–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Simons, R. L., Stewart, E., Gordon, L. C., Conger, R. D., & Elder, G. H. (2002). A test of life-course explanations for stability and change in antisocial behavior from adolescence to young adulthood. Criminology, 40(2), 401–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Rhule-Louie, D. M., & McMahon, R. J. (2007). Problem behavior and romantic relationships: assortative mating, behavior contagion, and desistence. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 10(1), 53–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Bushway, S., Brame, R., & Paternoster, R. (1999). Assessing stability and change in criminal offending: a comparison of random effects, semiparametric, and fixed effects modeling strategies. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 15(1), 23–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Capaldi, D. M., Kim, H. K., & Owen, L. D. (2008). Romantic partners’ influence on men’s likelihood of arrest in early adulthood. Criminology, 46(2), 267–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Knight, K. E. (2011). Assortative mating and partner influence on antisocial behavior across the life course. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 3, 198–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Collins, W. A., & Sroufe, L. A. (1999). Capacity of intimate relationships: a developmental construction. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 125–147). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  27. Giordano, P. C. (2003). Relationships in adolescence. Annual Review of Sociology, 29, 257–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(3), 511–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Forrest, W. (2014). Cohabitation, relationship quality, and desistance from crime. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76, 539–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Wyse, J. J., Harding, D. J., & Morenoff, J. D. (2014). Romantic relationships and criminal desistance: pathways and processes. Sociology Forum, 29(2), 365–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Ross, C. E. (1995). Reconceptualizing marital status as a continuum of social attachment. Journal of Marriage & the Family, 57, 129–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Warr, M. (1998). Life-course transitions and desistence from crime. Criminology, 36(2), 183–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Matsueda, R. L., & Heimer, K. (1997). A symbolic interactionist theory of role-transitions, role-commitments, and delinquency. Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency, 163-213.

  34. Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Rutter, M., & Silva, P. A. (2001). Sex differences in antisocial behavior: conduct disorder, delinquency, and violence in the Dunedin longitudinal study. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  35. Skardhamar, T., Monsbakken, C. W., & Lyngstad, T. H. (2014). Crime and the transition to marriage: the role of the spouse’s criminal involvement. British Journal of Criminology, 54, 411–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Woodward, L. J., Fergusson, D. M., & Horwood, L. J. (2002). Deviant partner involvement and offending risk in early adulthood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43(2), 177–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Caspi, A., & Herbener, E. S. (1990). Continuity and change: assortative mating and the consistency of personality in adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(2), 250–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Krueger, R. F., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Bleske, A., & Silva, P. A. (1998). Assortative mating for antisocial behavior: developmental and methodological implications. Behavior Genetics, 28(3), 173–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Buss, D. M. (1984). Toward a psychology of person-environment (PE) correlation: the role of spouse selection. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 47(2), 361–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Capaldi, D. M., Kim, H. K., & Shortt, J. W. (2007). Observed initiation and reciprocity of physical aggression in young, at-risk couples. Journal of Family Violence, 22(2), 101–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Kim, H. K., & Capaldi, D. M. (2004). The association of antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms between partners and risk for aggression in romantic relationships. Journal of Family Psychology, 18(1), 82–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Steffensmeier, D. J. (1983). Organizational properties and sex-segregation in the underworld: building a sociological theory of sex differences in crime. Social Forces, 61(4), 1010–1032.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Steffensmeier, D. J., & Allan, E. (1996). Gender and crime: toward a gendered theory of female offending. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 459–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Chen, K., & Kandel, D. B. (1998). Predictors of cessation of marijuana use: an event history analysis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 50(2), 109–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Maume, M. O., Ousey, G. C., & Beaver, K. (2005). Cutting the grass: a reexamination of the link between marital attachment, delinquent peers, and desistance from marijuana use. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 21, 27–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Larson, M., Sweeten, G., & Piquero, A. R. (2015). With or without you? Contextualizing the impact of romantic relationship breakup on crime among serious adolescent offenders? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45(1), 54–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Mulvey, E. P., & Shubert, C. A. (2012). Some initial findings and policy implications of the pathways to desistance study. Victims and Offenders, 7, 407–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Mulvey, E. P. (2000). Research on pathways to desistance. Ann Arbor: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. doi:10.3886/ICPSR29961.v2.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Pierce, G., Sarason, I. G., Sarason, B. R., Solky-Butzel, J. A., & Nagle, L. C. (1997). Assessing the quality of personal relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14, 339–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Monahan, K. C., & Piquero, A. R. (2009). Investigating the longitudinal relation between offending frequency and offending variety. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 36(7), 653–673.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Blumstein, A., Farrington, D. P., & Moitra, S. (1985). Delinquency careers: innocents, desisters, and persisters. Crime and Justice, 187-219.

  52. Nagin, D. S., & Paternoster, R. (1991). On the relationship of past to future participation in delinquency. Criminology, 29(2), 163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Wolfgang, M., Figlio, R., & Sellin, T. (1972). Delinquency in a birth cohort. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Seffrin, P. M., Giordano, P. C., Manning, W. D., & Longmore, M. A. (2009). The influence of dating relationships on friendship networks, identity development, and delinquency. Justice Quarterly, 26(2), 238–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1994). Are some people crime prone? Replications of the personality crime relationship across countries, genders, races, and methods. Criminology, 32(2), 163–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Wilson, J. Q., & Herrnstein, R. J. (1985). Crime and human nature. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Piquero, A. R., & Pogarsky, G. (2002). Beyond Stafford and Warr’s reconceptualization of deterrence: personal and vicarious experiences, impulsivity, and offending behavior. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 39(2), 153–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1987). The methodological adequacy of longitudinal research on crime. Criminology, 25, 581–614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State University, Box 2296, Huntsville, TX, 77341-2296, USA

    Sara B. Zedaker & Leana A. Bouffard

Authors
  1. Sara B. Zedaker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Leana A. Bouffard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara B. Zedaker.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zedaker, S.B., Bouffard, L.A. Relationship Status, Romantic Relationship Quality, Monitoring, and Antisocial Influence: Is There an Effect on Subsequent Offending?. J Dev Life Course Criminology 3, 62–75 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-017-0056-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-017-0056-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation