Anticipating the “Ball and Chain”? Reciprocal Associations Between Marital Expectations and Delinquency

• Author: Claire M. Kamp Dush,Rachel Arocho
• Date: 01 October 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12328
• Published date: 01 October 2016

R A The Ohio State University

C M. K D The Ohio State University∗

Anticipating the “Ball and Chain”? Reciprocal

Associations Between Marital Expectations

and Delinquency

Marriage has been identied as a mechanism

that may explain decreased delinquency among

young adults, but whereas marriage is increas-

ingly delayed, crime continues to decrease

across the transition to adulthood. Most ado-

lescents and young adults expect to marry

one day, and these expectations may suppress

delinquency. Conversely, increased delinquency

may also predict decreased marital expecta-

tions. Longitudinal data from the National

Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort (N

=7,057), a sample of youth who were aged 12

to 17 years in 1997, were used to examine the

reciprocal association between an expressed

expectation to marry soon and participation in

delinquent behavior. Results from an autore-

gressive cross-lagged structural equation model

suggested that greater expectations to marry

were signicantly associated with less delin-

quent activity 1 year later. Greater delinquent

Department of Human Sciences, Program in Human

Development and Family Science, 135 Campbell Hall,

1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus,OH 43210

(rachel.arocho@gmail.com).

∗Department of Human Sciences, Program in Human

Development and Family Science, 151E Campbell Hall,

1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus,OH 43210.

This article was edited by Kelly Raley.

KeyWords: crime and delinquency, marriage,National Lon-

gitudinal Study of Youth(NLSY), youth/emergent adulthood.

activity was not signicantly associated with

subsequent marital expectations. Youth with the

greatest expectations to marry may temper their

behavior even before vows are taken.

Across the life course, teenagers are most likely

to engage in delinquent behaviors ranging from

drug abuse and risky sexual pursuits to per-

sonal and property offenses (Moftt, 1993). As

teens transition to adulthood they take on roles

and responsibilities such as parenthood or mar-

riage that temper their participation in delin-

quent behaviors. Research has examined how

adult transitions are associated with a decline in

delinquent behaviors (Sampson & Laub, 2005),

and even the expectation of making an adult

transition may curb delinquency in youth (Car-

roll et al., 2007). For example, college students

who expect to marry report less substance use,

hypothetically because they are preparing for

the transition to marriage (Carroll et al., 2007;

Willoughby & Dworkin, 2008).

Researched association between expectations

and delinquent behaviors has been limited to

substance use and sexual promiscuity and has

only been examined in cross-sectional studies or

longitudinally in small, select samples (Carroll

et al., 2007; Willoughby & Dworkin, 2008;

Willoughby, Medaris, James, & Bartholomew,

2014). Furthermore, delinquent behaviors could

predict lower marital expectations because

Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (October 2016): 1371–1381 1371

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12328