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Adolescent Mothers and the Criminal Behavior of Their Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Daniel S. Nagin ,
Greg Pogarsky  and
David P. Farrington
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Abstract

There is little research on the relationship between adolescent motherhood and the criminality of the children. Data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development reveals that children from large families who were born to women who began childbearing early are at greatest risk of criminality. Three alternative explanations for this relationship are explored—the life course-immaturity account, the persistent poor parenting-role model account, and the diminished resources account. We find no evidence supporting the first account, but in various ways the analysis provides credible support for the latter two accounts, which themselves are not mutually exclusive.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , 1997 , pp. 137 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 by The Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

We thank Linda Babcock, Laura Dugan, Seth Sanders, George Loewenstein, Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, LaRue Allen, and anonymous referees for helpful comments. All errors remain our own.

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