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Author: Robinson, Rhissa Briones
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1. Robinson, Rhissa Briones
Impact of a Religious/Spiritual Turning Point on Desistance: A Lifecourse Assessment of Racial/Ethnic Differences
Presented: Atlanta GA, American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, November 2018
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Society of Criminology
Keyword(s): Deviance; Ethnic Differences; Modeling, Mixed Effects; Racial Differences; Religious Influences

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study evaluates the generalizability of Sampson and Laub's age-graded theory through examination of the NLSY97 data, a representative sample of adolescents followed into adulthood. In addition, this study seeks to examine an alternate structural turning point, specifically religiosity/spirituality. Building on studies that explore the role of religiosity on change processes across race/ethnicity (Chu & Sung, 2009; Stansfield, 2017), the current investigation addresses questions relating to the nature of the religion-desistance relationship across demographics.

Multilevel mixed effects models are utilized to estimate over time the separate impact of religious behavior and beliefs on deviance, to assess a religious turning point effect across racial/ethnic subgroups, and to evaluate the influence of religiosity on change from deviance characterized as violations of secular and ascetic standards. Analyses of religiosity/spirituality on these differing forms of deviance across race/ethnicity are also conducted.

Findings reveal modest evidence for a religious/spiritual turning point effect in enacting change. Findings highlight the nuanced religion-desistance relationship, as the prosocial impact of a religious turning point differs across race/ethnicity, and depends upon processes relating to attendance to church services or spiritual beliefs, and may be conditional on the type of deviance outcome examined--whether in violation of secular or ascetic deviance.

Bibliography Citation
Robinson, Rhissa Briones. "Impact of a Religious/Spiritual Turning Point on Desistance: A Lifecourse Assessment of Racial/Ethnic Differences." Presented: Atlanta GA, American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, November 2018.