Snares or Turning Points? Examining the Relevance of Fatherhood Entry Timing and Number of Children for Offending in Adulthood

Abstract

Past research on desistance from offending has indicated the importance of both turning points and snares in the life course. Despite similarities, there has been little effort to reconcile the intertwined nature of these two concepts. The present study seeks to provide understanding of how the timing of entering fatherhood and the number of children that a father sires in adolescence influences offending in early adulthood among a sample of juvenile offenders. Using the Pathways to Desistance data, group-based trajectory modeling was used to elucidate trajectories of the number of children had by participants in this study. Negative binomial regression is then used to determine the relevance of trajectory group assignment for predicting offending frequency in early adulthood. Results indicate that a six-group model best fit the data. Regression results indicate that individuals assigned to the High Accelerating and No Children groups offended at greater frequency in early adulthood than individuals assigned to the Early Stable group. Results indicate that having a child earlier in adolescence may act as a turning point leading to deceleration in offending. However, having multiple children during this time may act as a snare, restricting opportunities to transition to a normative lifestyle.