Age-Graded Protective Effects of Family Guardianship against Victimization

• In Event: Predicting Victimization: Opportunity and Protective Factors

Abstract

Criminal opportunity theories highlight the importance of family guardianship as a protective factor against victimization. Previous studies find that youth who have strong support and supervision systems in the family are less likely to be victimized, although the main effects of family guardianship do not always remain after controlling for other well-known predictors (Esbenzen et al., 1999; Madero-Hernandez & Fisher, 2016; Reid and Sullivan, 2009; Schreck et al., 2002; Schreck and Fisher, 2004; Spano et al., 2011; Tillyer et al., 2018). Although opportunity theories do not specify whether there are age-variant effects in the family guardianship-victimization relationship, life course theories suggest that those effects may vary across developmental stages. I test this hypothesis using three waves of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Preliminary results from multivariate regression analyses will be presented to shed light on the age-graded effects of family guardianship on victimization.

Author

• Arelys Madero-Hernandez, Shippensburg University