MOTHERHOOD AND CRIMINAL DESISTANCE IN DISADVANTAGED NEIGHBORHOODS*

Abstract

Evidence from several qualitative studies suggests that the transition to motherhood has strong inhibitory effects on poor women's delinquency and drug use trajectories. Quantitative studies, however, typically fail to find significant parenthood or motherhood effects. We argue that the latter research has typically not examined motherhood in disadvantaged settings or applied the appropriate statistical method. Focusing on within-individual change, we test the motherhood hypothesis using data from a ten-year longitudinal study of over five-hundred women living in disadvantaged Denver communities. We find that the transition to motherhood is significantly associated with reductions in delinquency, marijuana, and alcohol behaviors. Moreover, we find that the effect of motherhood is larger than that of marriage for all outcomes. These results support the qualitative findings and suggest that the transition to motherhood-and not marriage-is the primary turning point for disadvantaged women to exit delinquent and drug using trajectories.

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