Comparing life-long event dating accuracy between life event calendar and municipal registry information in an offender sample

• In Event: Using and Analyzing Life Event Calendars in Criminological Research

Abstract

Recall error in retrospective survey interviews may affect dating accuracy of important life events. In life-course criminology, researchers are interested in the effects life-course transitions may have on subsequent criminal development. Inaccurate dating of important transitional events may bias life-course criminological research and lead to erroneous conclusions about the effects of life-course transitions on crime. To reduce inaccuracies in the dating of life-course events to a minimum, life event calendar (LEC) methods were developed to gain better access to long-term memory. In recent years, LEC methods have become increasingly popular in life-course criminological research. However, while widely used, few studies have measured the agreement between data collected with LEC and external data sources. The current study uses data from the Criminal Career and Life-course Study (CCLS), a long-term longitudinal study into the lives and crimes of a Dutch 1977 conviction cohort. In 2013, respondents, who were then in their fifties and sixties, were interviewed using a life event calendar and asked to retrospectively reconstruct their life-course from birth to their present age. The current analysis compares the dating accuracy of marriage, divorce and parenthood transitions between data gathered during these survey interviews and municipal register data.

Authors

• Arjan Blokland, NSCR

• Arieke Rijken, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)