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Offending Trajectories Among Native‐Born and Foreign‐Born Hispanics to Late Middle Age
Author(s) -
Jennings Wesley G.,
Zgoba Kristen M.,
Piquero Alex R.,
Reingle Jennifer M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/soin.12017
Subject(s) - immigration , demography , life course approach , cohort , foreign born , longitudinal study , psychology , sociology , developmental psychology , medicine , political science , law , population , pathology
Research on crime over the life‐course has made considerable progress in the last several decades. Despite this growth, significantly less attention has been devoted to longitudinal examinations of H ispanic populations beyond one phase of the life‐course, and/or examining differences between native‐born and foreign‐born H ispanics. Recognizing these limitations, this study offers an investigation of H ispanics in the U nited S tates focusing on offending and its relationship to immigration status. Using arrest data from a cohort of 375 H ispanic males from ages 18 to 50, trajectory analysis revealed four unique offending trajectories: very low‐rate offenders, high‐rate late‐onset escalators, initially high‐rate desisters, and high‐rate chronic offenders. Multivariate regression models demonstrated that H ispanic immigrants were significantly less likely to be initially high‐rate desisters or high‐rate chronic offenders compared with their native‐born counterparts, yet unmarried H ispanics were significantly more likely to be high‐rate late‐onset escalators. Study limitations and implications are also discussed.