Gendered Transitions

Abstract

Although contributing greatly to current criminological theory and research on crime and desistance, Sampson and Laub's theory of age-graded informal social control is limited in explaining gender differences in desistance. The authors addressed this limitation by comparing how adult institutions such as marriage, family, and employment affect illicit drug use for women compared with men. The authors analyzed logistic panel models with fixed effects using National Youth Survey data and found gender differences in the predictors of changes in illicit substance use. Although marriage reduced the odds of drug use for men, it was the importance or strength of a relationship that altered illicit drug use for women. The authors also found other gender differences regarding children and the emphasis placed on employment and family by respondents. This research adds to the existing literature on desistance and furthers knowledge about the gendered nature of Sampson and Laub's theory.

Romantic Relationships and Criminal Desistance: Pathways and Processes

“…; Griffin and Armstrong ; King et al. ; Leverentz ; Sterk ; Thompson and Petrovic ). This ambiguity, likely reflecting men's higher level of criminal engagement and thus heterosexual women's lower likelihood of forming a relationship with a conventional partner, suggests that the social control tradition may not be the most useful model for understanding the influence of relationships in women's desistance, and that additional theoretical development is needed.…”

“…While research findings have coalesced around the idea that high-attachment and/or marital relationships encourage men's desistance via processes of informal social control, the role of romantic relationships in women's desistance is less clear. While some research finds that marriage or strong, high-quality relationships suppress women's participation in crime and substance use, others find that romantic relationships have offsetting or null effects on women's antisocial behavior, and still others suggest that romantic relationships increase women's participation in some forms of criminal activity depending on the timing and context (Alarid, Burton, and Cullen 2000;Bersani et al 2009;Cobbina, Huebner, and Berg 2010;Giordano et al 2002;Griffin and Armstrong 2003;King et al 2007;Leverentz 2006;Sterk 1999;Thompson and Petrovic 2009). This ambiguity, likely reflecting men's higher level of criminal engagement and thus heterosexual women's lower likelihood of forming a relationship with a conventional partner, suggests that the social control tradition may not be the most useful model for understanding the influence of relationships in women's desistance, and that additional theoretical development is needed.…”

All Aboard the Desistance Line: First Stop, Producing Prosocial Prison Attachments within an HIV Prison-Based Peer Program

“…For adults, much of the literature on attachment points to the marital bond as an aid in the desistance process (Sampson & Laub, 1993;Wyse, Harding, & Morenoff, 2014). Yet, marital bonds shape male and female behavior differently (Li & MacKenzie, 2003) and while marriage appears to enable the desistance process for men, the research on women, marriage and desistance is not as clear (Alarid, Burton, & Cullen, 2000;Cobbina, Huebner, & Berg, 2012;Thompson & Petrovic, 2009). Relationships that occur after a woman's release from prison tend to involve partners with similar criminal or addictive histories; women's relationships with men involved in crime lead to women returning to crime (Bersani, Laub, & Nieuwbeerta, 2009;Wyse et al, 2014).…”

White Collar Crime and Informal Social Control: The Case of “Crisis Responders” in the Swedish Banking and Finance Sector

“…Their theory, in a word, rests on a relatively solid empirical foundation, even if critical reactions and calls for further development of some of its elements have hardly been lacking. 2 The data used by those testing and developing it further has almost without exception been focused on what could be broadly termed "street crime", primarily crime of violence, theft, and drugs, usually committed in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities by "serious" or "high rate" offenders (Horney et al, 1995;Giordano et al, 2002;2007;Ezell & Cohen, 2005;Ezell, 2007;Thompson & Petrovic, 2009). Sampson and Laub's own empirical material is a "textbook case" of this same analytical orientation.…”

“…Parts of this work, which remains under development, have been published in book format , in anthologies (Sampson & Laub, 2005b;Laub et al, 2006), and in leading periodicals (Sampson & Laub 1990;2003;2005a;Laub et al, 1998). The theses put forth in these writings have become widely debated and critically scrutinized by other researchers in the field (see, e.g., Uggen, 2000;Giordano et al, 2002Giordano et al, , 2007Ezell & Cohen, 2005;Bottoms, 2006;Thompson & Petrovic, 2009), and are featured prominently in criminology textbooks and both introductory and advanced level course materials. 1 Through all these channels Sampson and Laub manage to make a dynamic and influential contribution to general theory building in the discipline.…”