In recent years, criminologists have increasingly focused on understanding stability and change in crime over the life-course. Transitions such as marriage, work, and military service are considered to be potential turning points in the life-course that redirect one’s criminal career. Relatively neglected in life-course scholarship is a consideration of whether residential mobility is also a turning point that facilitates desistance from crime and substance use. The few studies that have examined this topic suggest that individuals who make long-distance moves are less likely to engage in crime compared to those who stay or those who make short-distance moves within their community (Kirk, 2009; 2012; Laub and Sampson, 2003; Osborn, 1980; Sharkey and Sampson, 2010; Shaw, 1966). Yet, several important gaps in the literature exist. The purpose of this dissertation is to advance life-course scholarship by addressing two important gaps in the existing body of research on residential mobility and desistance. First, this dissertation is the first study to examine the relationship between residential mobility (defined as a between-county move) and desistance from crime and substance use during the transition to adulthood. This gap is noteworthy given that residential mobility is an age-graded life event that is central to the transition to adulthood. In the U.S., rates of residential mobility are highest in the young adult years compared to any other developmental period, and scholars suggest that such moves constitute key role transitions and have important implications for locational attainment. Second, this dissertation is also one of the first studies to examine whether the relationship between residential mobility and desistance from crime depends on the context of the move. Although the average effect of moving may be protective, the effect likely depends on a number of factors. Two factors may be especially salient to residential moves during the transition to adulthood: (1) whether the move occurs in the presence of other adult social roles and (2) whether the move results in improvements in community context. There are reasons to expect residential mobility to have stronger or weaker effects depending on these features. This dissertation uses public and restricted geocode data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97). These data contain a wealth of information about the transition to young adulthood, including respondents’ residential mobility, crime and substance use, adult social roles, and community context. In addition, restricted geocode data allows me to construct residential mobility patterns of respondents from 1997-2013 and determine the county-level characteristics of every residential location respondents reported living at during the survey. The primary contribution of this dissertation consists of three empirical chapters. The first empirical chapter examines the effect of residential mobility on desistance from crime and substance use during the transition to adulthood. The second empirical chapter examines whether the effect of residential mobility on crime depends on whether the move is accompanied by positive or negative adult social role transitions. The last empirical chapter examines whether moving into, out of, or remaining in counties marked by concentrated disadvantage and racial/ethnic segregation influences desistance from crime. In all three chapters, random effects regression is used to model within-individual change in residential mobility on change in offending, controlling for important time-stable and time-varying confounders. Results revealed that respondents experience immediate reductions in offending after moving, but with delinquency and substance use, the reductions were smaller (and possibly shorter lived); whereas, the reductions for arrest were larger and more sustained. Results also revealed that the effects of moving were relatively robust across key groups (i.e., gender, race, age, and criminal propensity). Finally, results revealed that the effects of residential mobility often depend on whether they are accompanied by adult social roles as well as the community context. / 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 2018. / April 13, 2018. / Crime and Substance Use, Desistance, Residential Mobility, Transition to Adulthood / Includes bibliographical references. / Sonja E. Siennick, Professor Directing Dissertation; Karin L. Brewster, University Representative; Carter Hay, Committee Member; Daniel P. Mears, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_653528 |
| Contributors | Widdowson, Alex Oswald (author), Siennick, Sonja E (professor directing dissertation), Brewster, Karin L. (university representative), Hay, Carter H. (committee member), Mears, Daniel P., 1966- (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting college), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (167 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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