Family Dissolution and Children's Criminal Careers
| Author | Torbjørn Skarðhamar |
| Published date | 01 May 2009 |
| Date | 01 May 2009 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1477370809102165 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Family Dissolution and Children’s
Criminal Careers
Torbjørn Skarðhamar
Statistics Norway
ABSTRACT
This study examines the relationship between family dissolution and children’s
crimes. The study uses a total population sample of a Norwegian birth cohort
born in 1982 (N = 49,975) and follows them through the crime statistics
from ages 10 to 22 years, applying growth curve modelling. Both married
and cohabiting parents are considered. There is a large and significant effect
from family dissolution that persists after controlling for important economic
confounders, even though these also show a high and significant effect. This
suggests that, although some of the effect of parental break-up is explained by
socioeconomic conditions, there also seems to be an independent and strong
effect of family dissolution.
KEY WORDS
Criminal Careers / Family Dissolution / Family Welfare / Gamma–Poisson Growth
Curve / Intergenerational Transfers.
Introduction
Numerous criminological studies have documented that children who
experience parental break-up have higher crime rates than their peers
without this experience, although some studies have also found that there
is no effect when important confounders are controlled (Hoeve et al. 2007;
Juby and Farrington 2001; Rebellon 2002; Voorhis et al. 1988). Much of
the literature in this field focuses on parenting styles and family discord
and does not pay much attention to economic disadvantage and other
possible structural mediators of the relationship between crime and family
Volume 6 (3): 203–223: 1477-3708
DOI: 10.1177/1477370809102165
Copyright © 2009 European Society of
Criminology and SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC
www.sagepublications.com
ARTICLES
204 European Journal of Criminology 6(3)
dissolution. However, economic problems are generally regarded as a direct
risk factor for divorce, family discord and negative outcomes for children,
as well as being important mediators of the effects of divorce (Amato 2006;
Amato and Keith 1991; Conger et al. 1994; Duncan and Brooks-Gunn
2000; Sletten 2007). Furthermore, family dissolution is also likely to have
immediate economic consequences for the whole (former) family. Therefore,
it is very important to control for the family’s socioeconomic status (SES)
when assessing the impact of family dissolution on various outcomes.
However, the SES–crime relationship is contested (Tittle and Meier 1990;
Wikström and Butterworth 2006), and might only be relevant to specific
types of crimes (Dunaway et al. 2000). However, it has been argued that
this lack of association is because SES is often measured with substantial
error (Bjerk 2007), and thus many studies fail to have sufficient controls
for economic conditions. The data for the present study are particularly
well suited to control for socioeconomic conditions, because they include
detailed and precise information about socioeconomic indicators as well as
demographic information. Here, I will examine the total Norwegian cohort
born in 1982 (N = 49,975) and their recorded criminal careers between the
ages of 10 and 22 years.
The aims of this study are to investigate the following.
1. The extent to which family dissolution before the age of 10 affects children’s
criminal careers through adolescence.
2. To what extent this association can be explained by socioeconomic variables.
3. Whether family dissolution and SES have a varying impact on different types of
offences.
Previous studies and perspectives
Three bodies of research inform this study. First, there are studies on the
effects of family dissolution on crime and a variety of negative outcomes for
children (Amato 2006). Second, there are studies on the effects of family
poverty and economic hardship on children’s negative outcomes, including
crime and deviance (Duncan and Brooks-Gunn 2000; Fergusson et al. 2004).
Third, this research problem touches on the larger issue of intergenerational
transfers, so the relationships between childhood living conditions and later
outcomes must be seen in light of children’s opportunity structures (Breen
2005). All three perspectives suggest that negative childhood conditions and
disadvantages are linked with a variety of later negative outcomes, of which
crime can be seen as a special case. Furthermore, this issue is discussed in
the context of a Scandinavian welfare state, with its socialization of risks
and generous benefit system (Esping-Andersen 1999).
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