Simons Ronald L, Barr Ashley B
Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.
Justice Q. 2014;31(5):793-821. doi: 10.1080/07418825.2012.704388.
Although research regarding the impact of marriage on desistance is important, most romantic relationships during early adulthoood, the period in the life course when involvement in criminal offending is relatively high, do not involve marriage. Using the internal moderator approach, we tested hypotheses regarding the impact of non-marital romantic relationships on desistance using longitudinal data from a sample of approximately 600 African American young adults. The results largely supported the study hypotheses. We found no significant association between simply being in a romantic relationship and desistance from offending. On the other hand, for both males and females quality of romantic relationship was rather strongly associated with desistance. Partner antisociality only influenced the offending of females. Much of the effect of quality of romantic relationship on desistance was mediated by a reduction in commitment to a criminogenic knowledge structure (a hostile view of people and relationships, concern with immediate gratification, and cynical view of conduct norms). The mediating effect of change in affiliation with deviant peers was not significant once the contribution of criminogenic knowledge structure was taken into account. The findings are discussed in terms of social control and cognitive accounts of the mechanisms whereby romantic relationships influence desistance.
尽管关于婚姻对停止犯罪影响的研究很重要，但在成年早期，即人生中犯罪率相对较高的阶段，大多数恋爱关系并不涉及婚姻。我们采用内部调节变量法，利用来自约600名非裔美国青年样本的纵向数据，检验了关于非婚姻恋爱关系对停止犯罪影响的假设。结果在很大程度上支持了研究假设。我们发现，仅仅处于恋爱关系与停止犯罪之间没有显著关联。另一方面，无论男性还是女性，恋爱关系的质量与停止犯罪都有相当强的关联。伴侣的反社会行为仅对女性的犯罪有影响。恋爱关系质量对停止犯罪的大部分影响是通过减少对犯罪ogenic知识结构的认同来介导的（对人和关系的敌对看法、对即时满足的关注以及对行为规范的愤世嫉俗看法）。一旦考虑到犯罪ogenic知识结构的作用，与不良同伴关系变化的中介作用就不显著了。我们从社会控制和认知角度讨论了恋爱关系影响停止犯罪的机制的研究结果。
