Routine Activity Trajectories and Time Near Parents, Peers, and Partners

• In Event: Crime and Place: Teen Hangout Places and Cyberspaces

Abstract

Much crime trajectory research commits the famous ecological fallacy – attributing a group’s effects to the individuals within it. Osgood explained cogently how this applies. He depicted the episodic offending of a few youths over time, then showed how trajectory mathematics artificially removes individual variations to produce a smooth curve for the group. That smoothness conflicts with evidence that youths are often very volatile in specific behaviors. We suggest examining the basic structure of teenage time use for a relatively smooth pattern change as they mature. The three Ps are Parents, Peers, and Partners (e.g., a stable girlfriend or boyfriend). As adolescence progresses, time spent with parents declines steadily; time spent with peers (absent parents) increases steadily. Later, time spent with a partner increases at the expense of time with peers. (To be sure, the partner curve is not as smooth as the peer and parent curves, due to the volatility of love.). Theoretical summary: these three routine activity trajectories change rather smoothly for individuals, while individual offending and victimization experiences are highly episodic.

Author

• Marcus Felson, Texas State University