Parenthood Residency Status and Criminal Desistance across Neighborhood Contexts

ABSTRACT

Research on desistance and parenthood has yielded mixed results bringing into question whether, and for whom, parenthood matters. Scholarship has not fully explored the importance of residency status or patterns of desistance across a full range of neighborhood contexts, nor examined distinctions between temporary and long-term desistance. Our study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine the association between parenthood residence and criminal desistance across levels of adolescent neighborhood poverty. Our findings demonstrate that parenthood has different meanings for desistance, depending on its duration, residency status, and neighborhood context.

Funding

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. This research was also supported in part by a grant (R15HD070098-01A1) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, and by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD050959). The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s) and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of the Federal government.

Additional information

Funding

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. This research was also supported in part by a grant (R15HD070098-01A1) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, and by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD050959). The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s) and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of the Federal government.

Notes on contributors

Jessica A. Ziegler

JESSICA A. ZIEGLER is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. Her research focuses on patterns of victimization over the life course and the relationship between life course transitions and criminal desistance with an emphasis on differences across neighborhood contexts.

Danielle C. Kuhl

DANIELLE C. KUHL is Associate Professor of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. Her current research focuses on violence, delinquency, and substance use within neighborhood and developmental contexts.

Raymond R. Swisher

RAYMOND R. SWISHER is a Professor of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. His research focuses on risk factors in the lives of disadvantaged youth (neighborhood poverty, exposure to violence, parental incarceration), and their consequences for crime, violence, and psychological well-being (depression, survival expectations) across the life course.

Jorge M. Chavez

JORGE M. CHAVEZ is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University and a member of the Racial Democracy, Crime, and Justice Network. His research centers on integrating developmental, social, and environmental perspectives toward understanding problem behaviors, crime and violence, and mental health problems, with a focus on the intersection of race/ethnicity and social structural disadvantage. His recently published research has examined offending and locational attainment in young adulthood, immigration and violent crime, race/ethnicity and state level immigration policy, and the intergenerational transmission of crime and violence.