The Longitudinal Impact of Anger Identity on Adult Offending

• In Event: From Adolescence to Adulthood: Longitudinal Research on Key Factors Associated with Criminal Behavior

Abstract

Emotions have received increased attention from sociologists and criminologists as an important component for understanding why individuals engage in crime. Giordano and colleagues (2007) emphasized that emotions are embedded in life course transitions. Furthermore, maintaining an angry identity was found to decrease the odds of desistance. To date, few quantitative studies have examined the longitudinal impact of anger identity on adult offending. The current study uses data collected from the second national evaluation of the G.R.E.A.T. program (Esbensen et al., 2013) and an ongoing long-term follow-up study. Roughly 30% of the original respondents (n=3,820) completed a follow-up survey in 2025 or early 2026 including identical anger identity items used in adolescence, along with measures for self-reported offending. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to examine the links between within-individual variation in anger identity and self-reported criminal involvement from adolescence into adulthood. Results demonstrate the continued impact of anger identity on offending in adulthood. The degree to which changes in anger identity influence persistence in offending has implications for interventions, including those based on life skills training and cognitive behavioral therapy, which often focus on actions persons can take to reduce the impact of negative emotional states, including anger.

Authors

• Kait Campbell, Michigan State University

• Chris Melde, Michigan State University

• Dena Carson, Indiana University Indianapolis

• Steve Chermak, Michigan State University