A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Intergenerational Transmission of Criminal Behavior

• In Event: Developmental and Life-course Approaches to the Examination of Offending

Abstract

Children whose parents exhibit criminal behavior (CB) appear to have an increased risk of displaying CB themselves as they mature. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to synthesize empirical evidence on the relation between parent and offspring CB. We pooled results from 23 samples in 25 publications (including roughly 3.5 million children) in this meta-analysis of intergenerational transmission (IT). On average, children with criminal parents were at significantly higher risk for CB compared with children without criminal parents. Studies taking into account relevant covariates also showed increased risk for CB. IT was strongest from mothers to daughters, followed by mothers to sons, fathers to daughters, and fathers to sons. Moreover, IT appeared stronger for cohorts born after 1981. Furthermore, when we examined methodological quality and other characteristics of studies, we did not find that response rates, sample size, or use of official records vs. self- or other-reports of parental CB moderated outcomes. However, the two samples that used convenience or case-control sampling showed particularly strong IT, and studies in which parental CB clearly preceded offspring CB showed stronger IT compared with those in which temporal precedence was unclear.

Authors

• Sytske Besemer, University of California, Berkeley and Uber, Inc.

• Shaikh Ahmad, University of California, Berkeley

• Stephen Hinshaw, University of California, Berkeley

• David Farrington, Cambridge University