Romantic Partnerships and Criminal Offending: Examining the Roles of Premarital Cohabitation, Serial Cohabitation, and Gender

Abstract

In the face of growing diversity in marital and cohabiting relationships, the impact of romantic partnerships on criminal desistance may likewise have grown complex. This study investigates how premarital cohabitation and serial cohabitation might influence criminal behavior. We also examine the role of gender in the desistance process. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we find that married men who cohabited with the spouse before marriage tended to commit more crimes than those who did not, whereas among married women premarital cohabitation was not associated with an increase in crime. In contrast, serial cohabitation’s effect did not vary by gender—male and female serial cohabitors both committed more crimes than one-time cohabitors. We conduct analyses to address selection and the findings are robust. Our work suggests that exploring heterogeneity within changing patterns of marriage and cohabitation is critical to understanding desistance from crime.