Accumulating (Dis)advantage: Do Social Bonds Mediate the Relationship Between Multiple Childhood Adversities and Persistent Offending?

Abstract

The current study examines how cumulative adversity in childhood is related to both frequency of offending and criminal career length in adulthood. Specifically we examine (1) whether multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predict criminal career length and frequency of offending, and (2) if the formation of adult bonds mediates the relationship between adversity in childhood with persistent and chronic offending in adulthood. Analyses use data on a population of several hundred individuals who have committed numerous violent offenses and have criminal careers of up to 56 years in length (N = 401). Path analysis was used to estimate the total, indirect, and direct effects of the accumulation of multiple adversities on two key dimensions of a criminal career: career length and frequency of offending. Results indicate the pathway to frequent offending differs from the pathway to criminal career length. Prosocial bonds did not mediate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and criminal career length; instead, there was a significant direct effect of ACEs on career length. On the other hand, ACEs were negatively and indirectly related to frequency of offending through the particular bond of employment. Results suggest that early years are important for initiating trajectories of disadvantage; at the same time our results also demonstrate a role for interventions across the life course. Early interventions that attempt to diminish the impact of negative beginnings as well as interventions that facilitate efforts to build social capital during adulthood may have the ability to redirect trajectories.