Abstract
A growing amount of research suggests that members of a mating couple tend to be similar to each other across a range of phenotypes. Mating couples, for instance, often evince similar levels of antisocial, violent, and aggressive behaviors. Whether this type of similarity extends across measures of chronic and non-chronic forms of criminality has been considerably less scrutinized. This study examines whether persistent offenders seek out mates who engage in higher levels of offending. All 180,379 officially registered couples of which both partners were born in the Netherlands between 1984 and 1990 were included in the sample. Data drawn from the Dutch Police were used to examine suspected criminal behavior between the ages of 12 and 30 years old. Individuals belonging to certain offender groups were more likely to select partners from that same group. Moreover, the timing, frequency, and nature of criminal behavior of couples correlated positively. Results further revealed support for both assortative mating and behavioral contagion as explanations for mate similarity in criminality. We discuss the implications of our work for the study of intergenerational and life-course study of criminal behavior.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Same sex marriages have been legal in the Netherlands since 2001, while a registered partnership has been possible for same sex couples since 1998. Same sex couples have been excluded from the analytic sample in the current study, as gender differences in criminal behavior could lead to different degrees of assortative mating in same sex couples.
References
Agrawal, A., Heath, A. C., Grant, J. D., Pergadia, M. L., Statham, D. J., Bucholz, K. K., ... & Madden, P. A. (2006). Assortative mating for cigarette smoking and for alcohol consumption in female Australian twins and their spouses. Behavior genetics, 36(4), 553-566. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-006-9081-8
Barnes, J. C., Beaver, K. M., & Boutwell, B. B. (2011). Examining the genetic underpinnings to Moffitt’s developmental taxonomy: A behavioral genetic analysis. Criminology, 49(4), 923–954. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00243
Barnes, J. C., Golden, K., Mancini, C., Boutwell, B. B., Beaver, K. M., & Diamond, B. (2014a). Marriage and involvement in crime: A consideration of reciprocal effects in a nationally representative sample. Justice Quarterly, 31(2), 229–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2011.641577
Barnes, J. C., Jorgensen, C., Beaver, K. M., Boutwell, B. B., & Wright, J. P. (2015). Arrest prevalence in a national sample of adults: The role of sex and race/ethnicity. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(3), 457–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-014-9273-3
Barnes, J. C., Wright, J. P., Boutwell, B. B., Schwartz, J. A., Connolly, E. J., Nedelec, J. L., & Beaver, K. M. (2014b). Demonstrating the validity of twin research in criminology. Criminology, 52(4), 588–626. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.1204
Besemer, S., Ahmad, S. I., Hinshaw, S. P., & Farrington, D. P. (2017). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the intergenerational transmission of criminal behavior. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 37, 161–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2017.10.004
Besjes, G. & Van Gaalen, R. (2008). Jong geleerd, fout gedaan? [Early learning, misbehaving?]. Bevolkingstrends, 2, 23–31.
Boutwell, B. B., Beaver, K. M., & Barnes, J. C. (2012). More alike than different: Assortative mating and antisocial propensity in adulthood. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39(9), 1240–1254. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854812445715
Eichelsheim, V. I., & van de Weijer, S. G. A. (2018). Intergenerational continuity of criminal and antisocial behaviour: An international overview of studies. Routledge.
Frisell, T., Lichtenstein, P., & Långström, N. (2011). Violent crime runs in families: A total population study of 12.5 million individuals. Psychological medicine, 41(1), 97–105. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291710000462
Geist, C. (2017). Marriage formation in context: Four decades in comparative perspective. Social Sciences, 6(1), 9.
Jolliffe, D., Farrington, D. P., Piquero, A. R., MacLeod, J. F., & van de Weijer, S. (2017). Prevalence of life-course-persistent, adolescence-limited, and late-onset offenders: A systematic review of prospective longitudinal studies. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 33, 4–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2017.01.002
King, R. D., Massoglia, M., & MacMillan, R. (2007). The context of marriage and crime: Gender, the propensity to marry, and offending in early adulthood. Criminology, 45(1), 33–65. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2007.00071.x
Kreuter, F., & Muthén, B. (2008). Analyzing criminal trajectory profiles: Bridging multilevel and group-based approaches using growth mixture modeling. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 24(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-007-9036-0
Krueger, R. F., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Bleske, A., & Silva, P. A. (1998). Assortative mating for antisocial behavior: Developmental and methodological implications. Behavior Genetics, 28(3), 173–186. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021419013124
McGee, T. R., & Farrington, D. P. (2010). Are there any true adult-onset offenders? The British Journal of Criminology, 50(3), 530–549. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azq008
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100(4), 674–701.
Moffitt, T. E. (2017). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. In K. M. Beaver & A. Walsh (Eds.), Biosocial Theories of Crime (pp. 69–96). Routledge.
Moffitt, T. E. (2018). Male antisocial behaviour in adolescence and beyond. Nature Human Behaviour, 2(3), 177–186. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0309-4
Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Rutter, M., & Silva, P. (2001). Sex differences in antisocial behaviour: Conduct disorder, delinquency and violence in the Dunedin longitudinal study. Cambridge University Press.
Nagin, D. S., & Tremblay, R. E. (2005). Developmental trajectory groups: Fact or a useful statistical fiction? Criminology, 43(4), 873–904. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2005.00026.x
Plomin, R., & Deary, I. J. (2015). Genetics and intelligence differences: Five special findings. Molecular Psychiatry, 20(1), 98. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2014.105
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2005). Seductions of method: Rejoinder to Nagin and Tremblay’s developments trajectory groups: Fact or fiction. Criminology, 43, 905.
Spapens, T., & Moors, H. (2020). Intergenerational transmission and organised crime. A study of seven families in the south of the Netherlands. Trends in organized crime, 23(3), 227–241.
Thornberry, T. P., & Krohn, M. D. (2000). The self-report method for measuring delinquency and crime. Criminal Justice, 4(1), 33–83.
Vandenberg, S. G. (1972). Assortative mating, or who marries whom? Behavior Genetics, 2(2–3), 127–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065686
Van de Weijer, S. G. A., & Beaver, K. (2017). An exploration of mate similarity for criminal offending behaviors: Results from a multi-generation sample of Dutch spouses. Psychiatric Quaterly, 88(3), 523–533.
van Dijk, M., Eichelsheim, V., Kleemans, E., Soudijn, M., & van de Weijer, S. G. A. (2022). Intergenerational continuity of crime among children of organized crime offenders in the Netherlands. Crime, Law and Social Change, 77, 20–227. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-021-09970-1.
van Dijk, M., Kleemans, E., & Eichelsheim, V. (2019). Children of organized crime offenders: Like father, like child? An explorative and qualitative study into mechanisms of intergenerational (dis) continuity in organized crime families. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 25(4), 345–363.
Van Schellen, M., Apel, R., & Nieuwbeerta, P. (2012). “Because you’re mine, I walk the line”? Marriage, spousal criminality, and criminal offending over the life course. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 28(4), 701–723. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-012-9174-x
Widdowson, A. O., Hay, C., & Siennick, S. E. (2021). Romantic partners and young adult offending: Considering the role of partner’s socioeconomic characteristics. Criminology, 59(1), 158–190.
Funding
This work was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under project number 451–16-014.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van de Weijer, S.G.A., Boutwell, B.B. Examining Mate Similarity for Chronic and Non-chronic Criminal Behavior. J Dev Life Course Criminology 8, 298–314 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-022-00197-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-022-00197-9