Abstract

In the face of growing diversity in marital and cohabiting relationships, the impact of romantic partnerships on criminal desistance may likewise have grown complex. This study investigates how premarital cohabitation and serial cohabitation might influence criminal behavior. We also examine the role of gender in the desistance process. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we find that married men who cohabited with the spouse before marriage tended to commit more crimes than those who did not, whereas among married women premarital cohabitation was not associated with an increase in crime. In contrast, serial cohabitation’s effect did not vary by gender—male and female serial cohabitors both committed more crimes than one-time cohabitors. We conduct analyses to address selection and the findings are robust. Our work suggests that exploring heterogeneity within changing patterns of marriage and cohabitation is critical to understanding desistance from crime.

摘要

面对婚姻和同居关系日益多样化，浪漫伴侣关系对犯罪预防的影响也可能变得复杂。本研究调查婚前同居和连续同居如何影响犯罪行为。我们还研究了性别在戒烟过程中的作用。利用全国青少年至成人健康纵向研究的数据，我们发现，婚前与配偶同居的已婚男性往往比未同居的男性犯罪更多，而在已婚女性中，婚前同居与犯罪率增加无关。相比之下，连续同居的影响并不因性别而异——男性和女性连续同居者都比一次性同居者犯下更多的犯罪行为。我们进行了分析来解决选择问题，结果是可靠的。我们的工作表明，探索不断变化的婚姻和同居模式中的异质性对于理解停止犯罪至关重要。