Like mother, like child? Sex differences in the maternal transmission of offending among a Scottish cohort of pre-adolescent children
| Published date | 01 July 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211056177 |
| Author | Babak Jahanshahi,Susan McVie,Kath Murray |
| Date | 01 July 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211056177
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2023, Vol. 23(3) 330 –347
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/17488958211056177
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Like mother, like child? Sex
differences in the maternal
transmission of offending
among a Scottish cohort of
pre-adolescent children
Babak Jahanshahi
Queen’s University, UK
Susan McVie
Kath Murray
The University of Edinburgh, UK
Abstract
That parental offending acts as a strong risk factor for offending in children is well-established
within criminology. Yet, research on maternal offending is relatively limited, even though many
women take on a significantly higher share of childcare responsibilities, and as such, might
reasonably be expected to exert an especially strong influence on their children. In part, this
lacuna might be attributed to a male-centric lens within criminology, which has tended to
overlook female offending. Aimed in part at redressing this imbalance, this article investigates the
maternal transmission of offending among a cohort of 12-year-olds, using self-report data from
the longitudinal Growing Up in Scotland study. The analysis shows that intragenerational maternal
offending acts as a significant predictor of offending among daughters, but that intergenerational
offending does not. We found no significant relationship between mothers’ offending and sons’,
who appear more vulnerable to a range of wider risk factors.
Keywords
Child offending, Growing Up in Scotland, intergenerational transmission, maternal offending
Corresponding author:
Kath Murray, School of Law, Old College, The University of Edinburgh, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL,
UK.
Email: Kath.Murray@ed.ac.uk
1056177CRJ0010.1177/17488958211056177Criminology & Criminal JusticeJahanshahi et al.
research-article2021
Article
Jahanshahi et al. 331
Introduction
That parental offending acts as a strong risk factor for offending among children is well-
established within criminology, with research dating back to at least the 1950s (Glueck
and Glueck, 1950). Over many decades, a range of theoretical perspectives have been put
forward to explain the close relationship between the behaviour of parents and that of
their offspring (Besemer et al., 2017). However, most of these theories have been devel-
oped based on research on fathers and sons, with less reference to mothers and daugh-
ters; and, therefore, have not examined the problem through a sex-based or feminist lens.
While there is strong evidence to suggest important sex-based differences in the trans-
mission of offending from parents to children, with mothers playing a significant role
(Besemer et al., 2017; Tzoumakis et al., 2019), and different causal mechanisms for girls
and boys (Auty et al., 2017), this area of criminology remains under-developed, espe-
cially in terms of exploring the distinction between intergenerational transmission (i.e.
the impact of prior parental offending) and intragenerational transmission (i.e. the impact
of contemporaneous offending), and the impact on boys and girls, respectively.
Using data from the Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study, this article examines
whether there is an association between maternal offending and the behaviour of chil-
dren at age 12. In doing so, we account for a range of other risk factors that are known to
influence child conduct and explore the differential influence of mothers’ offending on
sons and daughters in the context of these wider inequalities. There are good reasons for
focusing on mothers in this study, not least because they have tended to be neglected
within the criminological literature. From a social learning and interactional theory point
of view, mothers are (despite advances in sex equality) most likely to be the main carers
for children and, therefore, provide the greatest potential influence over their behavioural
development. However, our approach is also a practical necessity because GUS only col-
lects information about offending from one parent or carer, of whom (not surprisingly)
the vast majority are mothers. Nevertheless, we believe this article offers important
insights into the role of maternal transmission because it distinguishes between mothers
who desisted prior to the birth of the child, and mothers who offended during the lifetime
of the child. By distinguishing between these two temporal periods, we contribute to
theoretical debate around the reasons for intergenerational continuity of offending and
offer suggestions for improvements in policy and practice.
Defining and measuring intergenerational transmission
The notion of intergenerational transmission has been broadly defined as the ‘transfer of
individual abilities, traits, behaviours and outcomes from parents to their children’
(Lochner, 2008). Intergenerational transmission – or continuity – does not mean that
something physical is transmitted, but rather that a characteristic or behavioural trait is
seen in both the parent and the child (Besemer et al., 2017). Of course, for transmission
to occur, the behaviour of the parent must precede that of the child. Thornberry et al.
(2003) make a conceptual distinction between intragenerational transmission (the effect
of contemporaneous parental offending on the child’s behaviour) and intergenerational
transmission (the effect of the parents’ prior offending on the child’s behaviour), although
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