The Role of Baseline Between-Individual Differences in Understanding Within-Individual Changes in Life-Course Criminology

• In Event: Life-Course Transitions and Offending Behavior

Abstract

Turning points in life—between-person differences and within-person changes—have both been linked to desistance from crime. However, the means through which between-person differences are frequently captured in life-course criminology makes them intertwined with turning points in life. We propose that baseline between-person differences are instead more theoretically relevant. Occurring at one point in time, we demonstrate that baseline between-person differences establish meaningful theoretical connections to behavior and within-person change over time. Using a large-scale reentry dataset, we estimate a series of models capturing within-person change and baseline between-person differences in social bonds (family support) and differential association (peer criminality) at the time of release from prison. Results demonstrate that baseline levels of family support protect people from post-release substance use, but not crime. Instead, within-person increases in family support protect from crime. However, baseline between-person differences and within-person changes in peer criminality are robustly related to crime and substance abuse. Despite this, the detrimental effect of high baseline levels of peer criminality is offset by within-person increases in family support. Collectively, baseline-between person differences appear critical for behavior and within-person change over time, and results carry implications for reentry policy as well as theory testing in developmental criminology.

Authors

• Thomas Mowen, Bowling Green State University

• John Boman, Bowling Green State University