Exploring the Relationship between Parental Criminality and Polyvictimization

• In Event: Posters I

Abstract

This study examines whether parental criminality is a potential risk factor for polyvictimization, the experience of multiple criminal victimizations. Criminologists have found a relationship between parental criminality and child criminality, but comparatively little attention has been paid to whether parental criminality is a risk factor for their offspring's victimization. Prior research has demonstrated that it is important to study polyvictimization due to its association with negative outcomes, including delinquency. Drawing on public use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, the present study tests the hypothesis that those with criminal parents will be more likely to report experiencing multiple victimizations. Preliminary results of a logistic regression with odds ratios find a positive, statistically significant relationship between parental criminality and polyvictimization.

Author

• Jessica Miller, University of Maryland