Despite considerable evidence that certain life-course transitions can play a significant role in helping some offenders abandon crime, several fundamental issues remain unresolved. In this dissertation, I examine the links between crime and two life-course transitions related to the development of families in adulthood: cohabitation and marriage. Using data from the National Youth Survey (NYS), I investigate the extent to which both types of relationships can contribute to desistance. I then evaluate the major theoretical mechanisms through which marriage is most likely to promote behavioral change. Finally, I examine the degree to which these relationships foster desistance for both men and women. Results indicate that marriage has the capacity to promote desistance, whereas cohabitation does not, and that the effects of marriage on crime are conditional on both the social orientation of the spouse and the quality of the marital relationship. These and other results are mostly consistent with social control and social learning theories of crime and desistance. In addition, the results of the analyses indicate that the effects of marriage on crime are similar among men and women. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2007. / March 29, 2007. / Marriage, Desistance, Crime / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas G. Blomberg, Professor Directing Dissertation; James D. Orcutt, Outside Committee Member; Carter Hay, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182545 |
| Contributors | Forrest, Walter, 1974- (authoraut), Blomberg, Thomas G. (professor directing dissertation), Orcutt, James D. (outside committee member), Hay, Carter (committee member), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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