Swisher Raymond R, Dennison Christopher R
Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA.
J Res Crime Delinq. 2016 Nov;53(6):840-871. doi: 10.1177/0022427816645380. Epub 2016 May 4.
This article examines the relationship between intergenerational educational pathways and change in crime. Moreover, it examines the potential mediating roles of family and employment transitions, economic stressors, and social psychological factors.
Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health ( = 14,742) and negative binomial models are used to assess associations between educational pathways (i.e., upward, downward, and stable) and change in crime between adolescence and early adulthood. Selection effects are assessed with lagged dependent variables and controls for self-control, grades, and the Add Health Picture Vocabulary Test.
Intergenerational educational pathways are significantly associated with changes in crime. Downward educational pathways were predictive of increases in crime, whereas upward pathways were associated with decreases in crime. These associations were partly mediated by family transitions, and more strongly by economic stressors. These results were robust to controls for selection related variables.
This study is among the first to examine the relationship between intergenerational educational pathways and crime in the United States. Both upward and downward changes in educational attainments were found to be significant for crime. These findings are notable given the continuing expansion of higher education as well as concerns regarding increasing stratification and downward mobility in the United States.
本文探讨代际教育路径与犯罪变化之间的关系。此外，还研究了家庭和就业转变、经济压力源以及社会心理因素的潜在中介作用。
使用来自青少年到成人健康全国纵向研究的数据（n = 14742）和负二项模型来评估教育路径（即向上、向下和稳定）与青少年期到成年早期犯罪变化之间的关联。通过滞后因变量以及对自我控制、成绩和青少年健康画像词汇测试的控制来评估选择效应。
代际教育路径与犯罪变化显著相关。向下的教育路径预示着犯罪增加，而向上的路径与犯罪减少相关。这些关联部分由家庭转变介导，更强烈地由经济压力源介导。这些结果在对与选择相关变量进行控制后依然稳健。
本研究是美国首批探讨代际教育路径与犯罪之间关系的研究之一。研究发现教育成就的向上和向下变化对犯罪都有显著影响。鉴于美国高等教育的持续扩张以及对阶层分化加剧和向下流动的担忧，这些发现值得关注。
