Household income and cumulative property crime from early adolescence into young adulthood

The purpose of this research was to investigate the association between gross household income during early adolescence and property crime from early adolescence into young adulthood. A truncated version of recent nationally representative sample---the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997-2006)---was married with a set of sociological and developmental theories to explore these processes. Results from Study I indicate that cumulative property crime did not significantly differ by income but did differ by race and gender; parent-adolescent relationship quality significantly differed by income; emotional problems significantly differed by gender; and criminal arrests significantly differed by income, gender, and race. In addition, baseline and change scores for all variables of interest shared substantial variation. Results from Study II indicate that controlling for gender, race, and household structure, gross household income during early adolescence had a significant positive association with cumulative property crime from early adolescence into young adulthood. Parent-adolescent relationship quality (but not emotional problems) helped to explain this association. In general, these mediated processes did not significantly differ by income, gender, or race. Results from Study III indicate that criminal arrests from early adolescence into young adulthood explained a substantial portion of the variance between income and cumulative property crime from early adolescence into young adulthood, and partially mediated the association between income and property crime. Criminal arrests during adolescence also explained a substantial portion of the variance between income and property crime during adulthood, and partially mediated the association between income and property crime during adulthood. For these processes, moderated mediation was occurring. On the one hand, criminal arrests during adolescence generally deterred adults from later engaging in property crime, but this association was only significant higher income adolescents ($25,001- $100,000). On the other hand, criminal arrests during adolescence were associated with higher counts of property crime for those adults who generally engaged in at least one property crime, but this association was only significant for adolescents for lower middle income adolescents ($10,001-$25,000). Implications of these findings and future research are discussed.Human Development and Family Science