Life-course and Intergenerational Effects of Crime and Criminal Justice Involvement: Identifying Risks and the Search for Resilience

This proposal seeks to extend data collection for The Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS) and its intergenerational extension, the Rochester Intergenerational Study (RIGS). The measurement space of RYDS and RIGS have produced numerous works devoted to the study of risk and protective factors for delinquency and offending, including intergenerational risk and protective factors for childhood and adolescent maladaptive behaviors.  However, the richness of these data have not fully been tapped. Additional data collection efforts can enhance our ability to understand risk and protective factors as well consequences of offending across more thoroughly across the life-course, with direct implications for prevention and intervention. 

We propose to extend RYDS and RIGS in three important directions. First, we seek to better understand patterns of offending over the life-course.  The original focal participants of RYDS are in their late 40s. It is now possible to examine how patterns of risky behavior persist and/or desist in late adulthood as well as examine the social, economic and health consequences associated with these behaviors.  Previous studies largely rely upon cohorts born prior to the 1960s and cannot speak to recent generations who came of age in a different historical time and place.  There is also the need to understand ongoing risk and individual deficits in late adulthood to promote service provision.  Second, we seek to examine the impact of parental behavior on offspring outcomes as children transition into adulthood and face unique contextual circumstances. This inquiry will explore continuity in risk behaviors and offending and seek to identify potential mediators as well as identify patterns of resilience and escalation.  The results are important for identifying malleable targets for prevention and intervention programming to prevent late-onset and/or escalation in offending and other risk behavior.  Finally, new data collection efforts will allow for the generation of bias parameters for existing intergenerational studies (of offending) as almost all intergenerational studies suffer from a selection effect – parents (particularly fathers) without contact with their children are typically excluded.  

Given these foci, we propose to augment RYDS and RIGS, conducting interviews/surveys among two generations.  More specifically, we seek to conduct wave 16 interviews/surveys for RYDS and finish Year 23 of data collection before moving on to Year 25 interviews/surveys of RIGS.  To supplement, we will use official and administrative records to construct criminal history record information for participants of each generation. NCA/NCF