Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Prior research has found that an adolescent history of antisocial behavior influences involvement with antisocial romantic partners as adults, which in turn contributes to the continuity of deviant behavior into adulthood. It has also been argued that interactions between partners can provoke or reinforce behaviors within dyads, especially for young women with antisocial histories. Using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study predicted male’s and female’s antisocial behavior in young adulthood. Models considered the main effects of both previous adolescent delinquency and current romantic partners’ criminality, as well as the interaction of these influences. Following the identification of significant interactions by sex, models were run separately for males and females. Results found continuity of antisocial behavior for both males and females from adolescence into adulthood as well as increased risk of early adult criminality if they paired with partners with similar criminal tendencies. A three-way interaction between adolescent delinquency, young adult delinquency, and sex of respondent was also significant. Subsequent analyses suggest that partner’s delinquency increased the influence of boys’ adolescent delinquency on their own young adult delinquency. In contrast, being paired with delinquent partners escalated levels of young adult delinquency for females regardless of their adolescent delinquency. In fact, among females paired with antisocial males it was those with lower adolescent delinquency that reported the highest rates of young adult delinquency, indicating a susceptibility to male influence for these young women. Additional analyses will examine these models predicting young adult aggression.