Intergenerational transmission of successful self-reported delinquency in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD)

• In Event: Recent Results from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

Abstract

The current study is a follow-up from Farrington et al. (2023) where 126 successful self-reported male delinquents were identified in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD). “Successful self-reported delinquents” were defined as those CSDD males who had self-reported engaging in criminal behaviour in adolescence but had not been convicted up to age 26. Farrington et al. (2023) found that low frequency and low seriousness, and psychosocial factors influenced the likelihood of being a successful self-reported delinquent. The current study investigates the potential intergenerational transmission of successful self-reported delinquency by analysing data from two generations of the CSDD: The original Generation 2 (“G2”) and their biological offspring known as Generation 3 (“G3”). The former consists of 411 males and the latter of 551 males and females. In line with past research, it is expected that a wide range of psychosocial (i.e., parental, family, socioeconomic, and individual) factors will influence (e.g., mediate) this transmission. Implications for Developmental and Life-Course Criminological theories, interventions, and future research will be discussed.

Authors

• Henriette Bergstrøm, University of Derby

• David P. Farrington, University of Cambridge

• Darrick Jolliffe, Royal Holloway University of London