Intergenerational transmission of self-reported offending in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

Abstract

In the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), 411 London males (generation 2, or G2) have been followed from age 8 to age 48 in face-to-face interviews. Their parents (generation 1, or G1) were interviewed each year from when the G2 males were aged 8 until when they were aged 15, and 551 of their children (generation 3, or G3) have also been interviewed. This chapter investigates the intergenerational transmission of self-reported offending (SRO) from the G2 males (interviewed at ages 18 and 32) to the G3 males (interviewed at an average age of 25). There was significant intergenerational transmission of assault, marijuana use, burglary, theft from vehicles, drunk driving, and a total SRO score. The strength of intergenerational transmission was similar for self-reported offending and for convictions. The intergenerational transmission of total SRO scores was reduced or eliminated after controlling for important mediators that were mostly measured when the G2 male was aged 32. The most important mediators reflected socio-economic deprivation (renting, living in London, poor housing, low take-home pay); relationship problems (parental conflict, divorce, separation of the father from a child); poor child-rearing (poor parental supervision); and an anti-establishment attitude. It is suggested that developmental and life-course criminology theories should be extended to explain the intergenerational transmission of offending. In order to reduce intergenerational transmission, it is desirable to identify families who are at high risk of having a delinquent child, and to offer them interventions such as parent training, cognitive-behavioural skills training, vocational training, and relationship education.