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Title: Family Instability and Crime: Does One Really Lead to the Other?
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Harper, Cynthia Channing
Family Instability and Crime: Does One Really Lead to the Other?
Presented: San Francisco, CA, Population Association of America Meetings, 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Family Circumstances, Changes in; Family Influences; Family Studies; Fathers, Absence; Illegal Activities; Incarceration/Jail; Parents, Single; Socioeconomic Factors

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

This study examines a population of young men to see how family life is associated with crime in the U.S. It uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to track a sample of 6,859 young men from 1979 to the present, testing whether family disruption, father absence, step-parenting or other family arrangements increase the likelihood of incarceration. Results show that net of other individual, socio-economic, or community level factors which influence crime, family instability is highly associated with the probability of incarceration. Growing up in a single parent family significantly increases the likelihood of going to jail. However, growing up with a step-parent increases it to a much greater extent. These findings are relevant for crime policy, which focuses virtually all resources on corrective measures, rather than on preventive programs for children at high risk of incarceration later in life.
Bibliography Citation
Harper, Cynthia Channing. "Family Instability and Crime: Does One Really Lead to the Other?" Presented: San Francisco, CA, Population Association of America Meetings, 1995.