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Exploring the Relationship Between Lasting, Quality Social Bonds and Intermittency in Offending

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A Correction to this article was published on 08 June 2019

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Abstract

The current study expands the existing understanding of intermittency in offending by applying the age-graded theory of informal social control to further conceptualize and theorize intermittency. Using the Pathways to Desistance data, random effects models are used to determine whether within-individual changes and between-individual differences in the duration and quality of school, employment, and marriage/engagement are related to the time between arrests. Bonds of greater duration to school, employment, and marriage are related to longer average gaps between arrests. Transitioning into low wage employment is related to shorter periods of intermittency in the later years. On average, lower quality employment and marriages during this time period are also tied to shorter time between arrests as opposed to high quality employment and marriages.

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Change history

  • 08 June 2019

    The original version of this article, unfortunately, was missing a decimal point in Table 2. The effect size (b) for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Proportion of Time on the Street</Emphasis> in Waves 1–6 should be −2.403 instead of −2403.

Notes

  1. In addition to dropping cases with missing data, one additional observation where the respondent reported being 26 was also dropped given it was the only observation at this age, limiting variability in age-based examinations.

  2. No one in the sample had an arrest every month. The number of recall months in each wave actually had a maximum of 8 months for 6-month waves and 14 months for 12-month waves. In lieu of using the exact number of recall months within each wave, we opted to restrict the waves to 6 months and 12 months, respectively. This was done so that the intermittency scores were all on the same scale, whereas using the exact recall months would lead to varying scales. For example, in wave 1, a person who never got arrested and had 6 months reported as the recall period would receive a score of 6. However, another person who never got arrested in wave 1 but had 7 months reported in their recall period would receive a score of 7. The latter person would have a higher score just by virtue of having more recall months reported in the wave. Instead of using these recall months, we used the Pathways to Desistance linear months to create the standardization of 6 and 12 month waves. The linear month variable counts the number of months from the baseline interview. Therefore, linear months 1 to 6 were considered part of wave 1, 7 to 12 were considered part of wave 2, etc. The models were re-analyzed using recall months and the results were similar to those reported, with the most notable exception being that the between-individual effect of Married/Engaged – Below Average Quality does not attain significance in Waves 7–10.

  3. Employment considers both conventional and under-the-table jobs (i.e., legal employment where the individual does not receive a paycheck with taxes withheld). Unfortunately, the Pathways data did not begin separating out under-the-table jobs from conventional jobs until later waves.

  4. In addition to wages, a subset of respondents in waves 7 to 10 reported satisfaction scores for jobs they had in the community, also representing quality employment. In the calendar data, these satisfaction scores were reported by job and represented the mean level of satisfaction with 10 different aspects of the job (e.g., salary, benefits, chance for promotion, status). The models were re-analyzed measuring employment quality with these satisfaction scores (which were averaged for all jobs in a wave and categorized like the other quality measures to represent above average quality employment, below average quality employment, and unemployment). The results are virtually identical to those reported.

  5. For each of the quality measures, none of the quality scores were exactly at the mean. The quality measures represent respondents’ overall feelings toward school, work, and marriage/engagement during the wave. In addition to splitting the variables at the means, the models were re-analyzed based on quality scores above or at the median (high quality) and below the median (low quality). The results are substantively similar to those reported.

  6. Full descriptions of these measures can be found in Appendix A, Table A1.

  7. The pattern between age and intermittency is less distinct in the subsamples (i.e., waves 1 to 6 and waves 7 to 10). Following the age-crime curve, in waves 1 to 6, most offenders are at the peak age of offending (respondents range in age from 14 to 22), and at waves 7 to 10, many would likely be reducing their levels of offending (respondents range in age from 18 to 25). Therefore, the disaggregated models would not capture the non-linear relationship between age and intermittency seen in the full model.

  8. The models were re-analyzed with each quality measure analyzed separately. The results remain consistent with those reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina, 1305 Greene Street, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Christi Metcalfe

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, University of Central Florida, 12494 University Blvd, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Thomas Baker & Caitlin M. Brady

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  1. Christi Metcalfe
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Metcalfe, C., Baker, T. & Brady, C.M. Exploring the Relationship Between Lasting, Quality Social Bonds and Intermittency in Offending. Am J Crim Just 44, 892–912 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-019-09486-4

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