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iMAPP: New Research on Married Parents and Crime
Are children raised outside of intact marriages at increased risk for crime and delinquency? iMAPP's latest policy brief “Can Married Parents Prevent Crime? Recent Research on Family Structure and Delinquency 2000-2005” looks at empirical research from the United States published in peer-reviewed journals since 2000.
All but three of 23 recent studies found some family structure effect on crime or delinquency. Seven of the eight studies that used nationally representative data, for example, found that children in single- parent or other non-intact family structures were at greater risk of committing criminal or delinquent acts. For example:
A study using Add-Health data found that even after controlling for race, parents' education, and income, adolescents in single-parent families were almost two times more likely to have pulled a knife or a gun on someone in the past year. (Todd Michael Franke 2000)
Six of seven studies that looked at whether overall rates of single parenthood affected average crime rates found that changes in family structure were related to increases in crime. For example:
A study that looked at the relation between divorce rates and out-of-wedlock birthrates and violent crime between 1973 and 1995 found that nearly 90% of the change in violent crime rates can be accounted for by the change in percentages of out-of-wedlock births. (Mackey and Coney 2000, p. 352)
A study that looked at crime in rural counties in four states concluded, “[A]n increase of 13% in female-headed households would produce a doubling of the offense rate. . . .” (Osgood and Chambers 2000, p. 103)
Even after controlling for income, family structure is an important predictor of crime and delinquency.
Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy says, “Results like these are a reality check for people such as Peggy Drexler (“Raising Boys Without Men”) who argue that it is only poverty, and not father absence, that hurts children. Boys are hardwired to grow into men. But they are not hardwired to grow into good family men. That's a job for mothers and fathers working together.”
For a copy of the research brief, or to schedule an interview, contact Joshua@imapp.org. (202) 374- 6333.
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