Intergenerational Associations in Crime for an At-Risk Sample of US Men: Factors that May Mitigate or Exacerbate Transmission

The purpose of the study was to examine moderation of intergenerational transmission of crime and antisocial behavior of parents to adult arrests of sons (from age 18 years to ages 37–38 years). Moderators examined were from late childhood (constructive parenting and sons’ inhibitory control, internalizing symptoms, and cognitive function), adolescence (delinquency and deviant peer association), and early adulthood (educational achievement, employment history, substance use, deviant peer association, and partner antisocial behavior). Study participants were parents and sons (N = 206) from the longitudinal Oregon Youth Study, recruited from schools in the higher crime areas of a medium-sized metropolitan region in the Pacific Northwest. Assessment included official arrest records, school data, interviews, and questionnaires. As hypothesized, parents’ and sons’ histories of two or more arrests were significantly associated. Predictions of sons’ arrests from a broader construct of parental antisocial behavior were significantly moderated by sons’ late childhood cognitive function and early adult employment history, substance use, and romantic partner’s antisocial behavior. Overall, there was relatively little intergenerational association in crime at low levels of these moderators. Findings indicate relatively large intergenerational associations in crime. The identified moderators may be used as selection criteria or targeted in prevention and treatment efforts aimed at reducing such associations.