Abstract

Although researchers have examined whether dropping out of high school is related to crime, very few have studied college dropouts. It has been argued that dropping out of high school leads to minimal changes in crime since dropouts were already delinquent before leaving school. Among college dropouts, however, individuals who select into college are conceivably least delinquent; therefore, dropping out might indeed represent a negative life course transition. Against this backdrop, data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health are used to examine the relationship between dropping out of college and changes in crime between adolescence and young adulthood. Most broadly, results show that dropping out of college is positively related to crime across the life course. This association is also moderated by one’s propensity to complete college, whereby those most likely to attain a degree, but who ultimately drop out, exhibit the largest increases in crime.

摘要

尽管研究人员已经研究过高中辍学是否与犯罪有关，但很少有人研究大学辍学。有人认为，从高中辍学对犯罪率的影响很小，因为辍学在离开学校之前就已经违法了。然而，在大学辍学生中，可以想象，那些选择进入大学的人是最不犯罪的。因此，辍学可能确实代表了一种消极的生命历程转变。在此背景下，来自全国青少年到成人健康纵向研究的数据被用来检验大学辍学与青少年和青年期犯罪变化之间的关系。最广泛地说，结果表明，大学辍学与整个生命过程中的犯罪呈正相关。