Black Male Emerging Adults: Investigating Inequalities in Adult Transitions, Social Learning, and Imprisonment

• In Event: Life-Course Transitions and Offending Behavior

Abstract

Emerging adulthood is a life stage that developed as a result of numerous macro-structural changes in recent decades (Arnett 2015), and which has implications for life course criminality and identity formation (Massoglia & Uggen 2010). Much research has been done in the area of the new life stage known as “emerging adulthood,” however little to no research has been done on how emerging adulthood relates to or changes classic findings in criminology, especially about the importance of disadvantages embedded in racial inequalities. This mixed method study analyzes data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to examine social learning criminology for black male emerging adults. Results provide an understanding of how peer incarceration and education impacts personal imprisonment of black male emerging adults.

Author

• DeAndre' Terrell Beadle, University of Arkansas