Romantic Partners' Influence on Men's Likelihood of Arrest in Early Adulthood

Intergenerational Associations in Crime for an At-Risk Sample of US Men: Factors that May Mitigate or Exacerbate Transmission

PURPOSE

To examine moderation of intergenerational transmission of crime and antisocial behavior of parents to adult arrests of sons (from age 18 years to ages 37-38 years). Moderators examined were from late childhood (constructive parenting and sons' inhibitory control, internalizing symptoms, and cognitive function), adolescence (delinquency and deviant peer association), and early adulthood (educational achievement, employment history, substance use, deviant peer association, and partner antisocial behavior).

METHODS

Study participants were parents and sons (N = 206) from the longitudinal Oregon Youth Study, recruited from schools in the higher crime areas of a medium-sized metropolitan region in the Pacific Northwest. Assessment included official arrest records, school data, interviews, and questionnaires.

RESULTS

As hypothesized, parents' and sons' histories of two or more arrests were significantly associated. Predictions of sons' arrests from a broader construct of parental antisocial behavior were significantly moderated by sons' late childhood cognitive function and early adult employment history, substance use, and romantic partner's antisocial behavior. Overall, there was relatively little intergenerational association in crime at low levels of these moderators.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate relatively large intergenerational associations in crime. The identified moderators may be used as selection criteria or targeted in prevention and treatment efforts aimed at reducing such associations.

The Salience of Antisocial Personality Disorder for Predicting Substance Use and Violent Behavior: The Moderating Role of Deviant Peers

Deviant peer association and antisocial personality disorder are risk factors for drug use and violent offending. However, there has yet to be research that focuses on how deviant peer association may moderate the impact of antisocial personality disorder on these outcomes. Data from Wave 10 of the Pathways to Desistance dataset were used in analyses. Negative binomial regression was used to estimate the effects of covariates on violent offending. Ordered logistic regression was used to estimate the effects of covariates on substance use outcomes. Results indicated that deviant peer association moderated the impact of antisocial personality disorder on violent offending frequency and marijuana use frequency. The direction of this interaction effect was positive for marijuana use. The direction of this moderation was negative for violent offending, indicating that antisocial personality disorder–diagnosed individuals commit fewer violent offenses at similar levels of deviant peer association as nonafflicted participants.

Interpersonal Partner Relationships, Bonds to Children, and Informal Social Control among Persistent Male Offenders

This qualitative study applied a life course framework to characterize the nature of interpersonal partner relationships of Mexican American young adult men affiliated with street gangs during their adolescence. Data come from a 15-year longitudinal mixed-method cohort study conducted in San Antonio, Texas. We analyzed semi-structured interviews conducted with a subsample (n = 40) during the course of three face-to-face sessions to explore the men's motivations, aspirations, and goals to lead conventional lives, despite their criminal justice involvement. Specifically, we focus on the complex nature of maintaining ties to children, the navigation of complicated family structures, the processes of seeking partners with economic resources, and on partnerships with criminal and delinquent partners. We document the complex interpersonal nature of these relationships as men contend with serial incarceration and their desires and motivations to desist from criminal behavior.

Post-traumatic stress disorder and having antisocial peers in adolescence are risk factors for the development of antisocial personality disorder

Antisocial personality disorder is a mental illness that is a major public health concern. Both post-traumatic stress disorder and association with antisocial peers have been found to be associated with increased risk for diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. Despite this, past research has yet to examine the interrelatedness of these three constructs from a developmental perspective. This study sought to examine the effect of post-traumatic stress disorder in adolescence on the risk for antisocial personality disorder diagnosis in adulthood and the relevance of differences in developmental patterns of degree of association with antisocial peers in adolescence as an additional risk factor. The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses, comprising the longitudinal responses of 1,354 juvenile offenders who had recently been adjudicated for a serious offense prior to baseline measurement. Logistic regression was used to examine these relationships. Ever meeting criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder in adolescence significantly increased the odds of developing antisocial personality disorder in adulthood. This effect was no longer significant upon inclusion of variables pertaining to association with antisocial peers. Implications are discussed.

The Influence of Romantic Relationships on Substance Use in Emerging Adulthood

The current work built on prior research showing aspects of romantic relationships, including relationship quality and partner substance use, influence individual risk for substance use during emerging adulthood. Analyses were based on a sample of males from the Pathways to Desistance Project (PDP) data. Romantic relationships were quantified with an aggregate measure of relationship quality and specific measures of relationship satisfaction, monitoring, and partner antisocial behavior. With a focus on emerging adulthood, the current work was centered on Waves 8 and 9 of the PDP data. Regression models tested the association between the relationship measures and alcohol intoxication, marijuana use, and hard drug use in the past year. Models considered both contemporaneous and longitudinal effects. Across the aspects of romantic relationships, monitoring and partner antisocial behavior had the most consistent association with substance use. The association between monitoring and substance use was strongest when longitudinal effects were tested among those in a relationship at both Waves 8 and 9. Peer antisocial behavior and prior substance use were also associated with substance use. Results show that romantic relationships have an important influence on substance use within a criminal justice involved sample.

Assessing Associations in Substance Use across Three Generations: From Grandparents to Sons and from Sons to Their Children

The Three Generational Study (3GS) began in the early 90s and involves the third generation (G3) offspring of second generation (G2) fathers who were originally recruited in 1984 as part of the Oregon Youth Study (OYS) in mid childhood (ages 9-10 years) along with their first- generation (G1) parents. As boys, the G2 fathers lived in higher delinquency neighborhoods of a medium-sized Pacific Northwestern United States city. The OYS-3GS examines questions concerning socially mediated intergenerational transmission versus discontinuity (or moderation) of antisocial behavior, substance use, and related problem behaviors. Questions address influences of the grandparents, or Generation 1 (G1), on their sons in G2 and in turn of these sons and their partners on their own children in G3. In this article, we present an overview of the study design-and underlying theory-related to general and outcome-specific transmission pathways. We then summarize key issues and findings to date related to the current main focus of the study regarding intergenerational associations in substance use.

Intergenerational Associations in Sexual Onset: Mediating Influences of Parental and Peer Sexual Teasing and Youth Substance Use

PURPOSE

The prospective intergenerational association between fathers' age of onset of sexual intercourse and their son's or daughter's age of onset of oral sex or intercourse up to 30 years later was examined using survival analyses across child ages 11-12 years to 17-18 years. In addition, novel constructs of parental and peer sexual teasing (at ages 11-12 years) and general risk factors of child substance use onset (alcohol and marijuana) before or concurrent with sexual onset were assessed as predictors of children's sexual onset and mediators of intergenerational associations.

METHODS

Hypotheses were tested using the Oregon Youth Study Intergenerational sample, including 100 fathers and 176 children (46% girls).

RESULTS

Univariate findings indicated that children were at risk for earlier sexual onset, provided their fathers had onset of sex at younger ages; in addition, child alcohol and marijuana onset and parental, but not peer, sexual teasing predicted earlier age of sexual onset for children. Multivariate findings indicated that child alcohol onset fully mediated the intergenerational association in age of sexual onset, whereas parental teasing and child marijuana onset did not explain the intergenerational association.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings of intergenerational associations in risk of sexual onset indicate that mechanisms of this association should be further examined. Substance use onset also confers risk for earlier child sexual onset, with alcohol use onset accounting for intergenerational associations; thus, substance use onset should be a prime target for prevention. Parental sexual teasing warrants further study as a mechanism related to possibly unintended encouragement of youth's early sexual onset.

Understanding Persistence and Desistance in Crime and Risk Behaviors in Adulthood: Implications for Theory and Prevention

Recent theoretical advances related to the development and course, including persistence and desistance, of antisocial behaviors and conduct problems, violent behaviors, and related problem behaviors are discussed. Integrative theoretical models, including the Dynamic Developmental Systems (DDS), are discussed. Aspects of the DDS model regarding the development of and change in antisocial behavior and violence across adolescence and early adulthood are illustrated with findings from the Oregon Youth Study, an ongoing, long-term examination of the causes and consequences of antisocial behavior for a community-based sample of men (and their romantic partners) who were raised in neighborhoods with high delinquency rates. Preventive implications of the model are discussed.

The Competition-Violence Hypothesis: Sex, Marriage, and Male Aggression

Sexually active men, who are not in a monogamous relationship, may be at a greater risk for violence than men who are sexually active within monogamous relationships and men who are not sexually active. The current study examines changes in sexual behavior and violence in adolescence to early adulthood. Data on male (n = 4,597) and female (n = 5,523) respondents were drawn from four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health (Add Health). HLM regression models indicate that men who transition to a monogamous, or less competitive, mode of sexual behavior (fewer partners since last wave), reduce their risk for violence. The same results were not replicated for females. Further, results were not accounted for by marital status or other more readily accepted explanations of violence. Findings suggest that competition for sex be further examined as a potential cause of male violence.

Longitudinal examination of peer and partner influences on gender-specific pathways from child abuse to adult crime

Research provides increasing evidence of the association of child abuse with adult antisocial behavior. However, less is known about the developmental pathways that underlie this association. Building on the life course model of antisocial behavior, the present study examined possible developmental pathways linking various forms of child abuse (physical, emotional, sexual) to adult antisocial behavior. These pathways include child and adolescent antisocial behavior, as well as adulthood measures of partner risk taking, warmth, and antisocial peer influences. Data are from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, a prospective longitudinal study examining long-term developmental outcomes subsequent to child maltreatment. Participant families in the Lehigh Longitudinal Study were followed from preschool age into adulthood. Analyses of gender differences addressed the consistency of path coefficients across genders. Results for 297 adult participants followed from early childhood showed that, for both genders, physical and emotional child abuse predicted adult crime indirectly through child and adolescent antisocial behavior, as well as adult partner and antisocial peer influences. However, for females, having an antisocial partner predicted an affiliation with antisocial peers, and that in turn predicted adult crime. For males, having an antisocial partner was associated with less partner warmth, which in turn predicted an affiliation with antisocial peers, itself a proximal predictor of adult crime. Sexual abuse also predicted adolescent antisocial behavior, but only for males, supporting what some have called "a delayed-onset pathway" for females, whereby the exposure to early risks produce much later developmental outcomes.

With or Without You? Contextualizing the Impact of Romantic Relationship Breakup on Crime Among Serious Adolescent Offenders

The decline and delay of marriage has prolonged adolescence and the transition to adulthood, and consequently fostered greater romantic relationship fluidity during a stage of the life course that is pivotal for both development and offending. Yet, despite a growing literature of the consequences of romantic relationships breakup, little is known about its connection with crime, especially among youth enmeshed in the criminal justice system. This article addresses this gap by examining the effects of relationship breakup on crime among justice-involved youth-a key policy-relevant group. We refer to data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, a longitudinal study of 1354 (14% female) adjudicated youth from the juvenile and adult court systems in Phoenix and Philadelphia, to assess the nature and complexity of this association. In general, our results support prior evidence of breakup's criminogenic influence. Specifically, they suggest that relationship breakup's effect on crime is particularly acute among this at-risk sample, contingent upon post-breakup relationship transitions, and more pronounced for relationships that involve cohabitation. Our results also extend prior work by demonstrating that breakup is attenuated by changes in psychosocial characteristics and peer associations/exposure. We close with a discussion of our findings, their policy implications, and what they mean for research on relationships and crime among serious adolescent offenders moving forward.

Romantic Relationships and Criminal Desistance: Pathways and Processes

In dominant theories of criminal desistance, marital relationship formation is understood to be a key "turning point" away from deviant behavior. Empirical studies supporting this claim have largely focused on the positive role of marriage in men's desistance from crime, and relatively few studies have examined the role that non-marital relationships may play in desistance. Drawing on 138 longitudinal in-depth interviews with 22 men and women reentering society from prison, this paper extends the scope of desistance research by additionally considering the significance of more fleeting and fluid relationships, and the diverse processes through which romantic relationships of all sorts are linked with criminal behaviors. We present an empirically-based typology detailing six processes, grouped within three conceptual categories, through which romantic relationships had their effects. These pathways include material circumstances, social bonds and interactions, and emotional supports and stressors. We also consider gender differences in these processes. While more tenuous bonds to marginally conventional partners would seem to exert little effect, as one of the few relationships and social roles available to many former prisoners, we found that they wielded important influence, if not always in a positive direction.

Bad Romance: Sex Differences in the Longitudinal Association Between Romantic Relationships and Deviant Behavior

The current study investigates how romantic relationships are related to antisocial behavior longitudinally among delinquent males and females (n=354; ages 14-25). While being in a relationship or not is unrelated to antisocial behavior, romantic partner characteristics (antisocial behavior and antisocial influence) are associated with greater antisocial behavior. As males age, they become increasingly resistant to romantic partner characteristics. In contrast, females become increasingly vulnerable to the effects of romantic partner characteristics on antisocial behavior as they age, particularly when these relationships are relatively shorter. Females in shorter romantic relationships with partners who are antisocial or exert antisocial influence are at risk of persisting in antisocial behavior.

WHICH CRIMINOGENIC NEED CHANGES ARE MOST IMPORTANT IN PROMOTING DESISTANCE FROM CRIME AND SUBSTANCE USE?

Andrews and Bonta identified the following criminogenic needs as important to reducing offending: substance use, antisocial cognition, antisocial associates, family and marital relations, employment, and leisure and recreational activities. This study examines dynamic criminogenic need changes across a 12-month period and identifies which need changes are the best predictors of criminal offending and illicit drug use among a sample of drug-involved probationers who participated in an intervention (N = 251). Probationers had significant changes in several need areas, and treatment participation moderated some changes. Probationers who had reductions in criminally involved family members they associate with, improved work performance, and decreased alcohol use had the greatest reductions in offending. Those who increased time spent engaged in leisure and recreational activities were less likely to self-report subsequent drug use. These findings suggest that certain dynamic need changes may be more important than others, and designing interventions to impact these needs might improve outcomes.

SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES: COGNITIVE CHANGES PARTIALLY MEDIATE THE IMPACT OF ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS ON DESISTANCE FROM CRIME

Although research regarding the impact of marriage on desistance is important, most romantic relationships during early adulthoood, the period in the life course when involvement in criminal offending is relatively high, do not involve marriage. Using the internal moderator approach, we tested hypotheses regarding the impact of non-marital romantic relationships on desistance using longitudinal data from a sample of approximately 600 African American young adults. The results largely supported the study hypotheses. We found no significant association between simply being in a romantic relationship and desistance from offending. On the other hand, for both males and females quality of romantic relationship was rather strongly associated with desistance. Partner antisociality only influenced the offending of females. Much of the effect of quality of romantic relationship on desistance was mediated by a reduction in commitment to a criminogenic knowledge structure (a hostile view of people and relationships, concern with immediate gratification, and cynical view of conduct norms). The mediating effect of change in affiliation with deviant peers was not significant once the contribution of criminogenic knowledge structure was taken into account. The findings are discussed in terms of social control and cognitive accounts of the mechanisms whereby romantic relationships influence desistance.

Growth of men's alcohol use in early adulthood: intimate partners' influence

The present study examined the effects of intimate partners' alcohol use on the developmental trajectories of men's alcohol use across their early to late 20s. Longitudinal data from a community sample of 110 at-risk young men and their intimate partners were analyzed using latent growth modeling. Results indicated that, in general, men showed a significant linear decrease in alcohol use across their 20s, as expected. However, partners' alcohol use had significant and positive effects on men's concurrent alcohol use across their 20s, regardless of relationship status, even after taking into account autoregressive effects of men's own alcohol use and their antisocial behavior. Furthermore, a new partner's alcohol use had a significantly greater influence on the man's alcohol use in his late 20s compared to a partner's alcohol use from intact relationships. Findings from the present study highlight the importance of considering intimate partners' alcohol use as part of the proximal psychosocial environment influencing men's alcohol use during early adulthood. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.

Does mandating offenders to treatment improve completion rates?

While it is known that community-based outpatient treatment for substance abusing offenders is effective, treatment completion rates are low and much of the prior research has been conducted with offenders in residential treatment or therapeutic communities. The aim of the present study was to assess whether offenders who are mandated to community-based outpatient treatment have better completion rates compared to those who enter treatment voluntarily. The 160 research participants were a heterogeneous group of substance abusers who were under various levels of criminal justice supervision (CJS) in the community. The participants were enrolled in an intensive outpatient program and were recruited into the study between July 2007 and October 2010. All offenders received weekly therapy sessions using a cognitive problem solving framework and 45% completed the 6 month treatment program. Interestingly, those who were mandated demonstrated less motivation at treatment entry, yet were more likely to complete treatment compared to those who were not court-ordered to treatment. While controlling for covariates known to be related to treatment completion, the logistic regression analyses demonstrated that court-ordered offenders were over 10 times more likely to complete treatment compared to those who entered treatment voluntarily (OR=10.9, CI=2.0-59.1, p=.006). These findings demonstrate that stipulated treatment for offenders may be an effective way to increase treatment compliance.

Have children adapted to their mothers working, or was adaptation unnecessary? Cohort effects and the relationship between maternal employment and child well-being

Drawing on previous theoretical and empirical work, we posit that maternal employment influences on child well-being vary across birth cohorts. We investigate this possibility by analyzing longitudinal data from a sample of children and their mothers drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We introduce a series of age, cohort, and maternal employment interaction terms into multilevel models predicting child well-being to assess whether any potential short-term or long-term effects of early and current maternal employment vary across birth cohorts. Results indicate that maternal employment largely is inconsequential to child well-being regardless of birth cohort, with a few exceptions. For instance, children born in earlier cohorts may have experienced long-term positive effects of having an employed mother; however, as maternal employment became more commonplace in recent cohorts, these beneficial effects appear to have disappeared. We discuss theoretical and methodological implications of these findings.

Life shocks and crime: a test of the "turning point" hypothesis

Other researchers have posited that important events in men's lives-such as employment, marriage, and parenthood-strengthen their social ties and lead them to refrain from crime. A challenge in empirically testing this hypothesis has been the issue of self-selection into life transitions. This study contributes to this literature by estimating the effects of an exogenous life shock on crime. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, augmented with information from hospital medical records, to estimate the effects of the birth of a child with a severe health problem on the likelihood that the infant's father engages in illegal activities. We conduct a number of auxiliary analyses to examine exogeneity assumptions. We find that having an infant born with a severe health condition increases the likelihood that the father is convicted of a crime in the three-year period following the birth of the child, and at least part of the effect appears to operate through work and changes in parental relationships. These results provide evidence that life events can cause crime and, as such, support the "turning point" hypothesis.

Early Adult Outcomes of Male Arrest Trajectories: Propensity versus Causation Effects

This study examined early adult outcomes of differing arrest trajectories across childhood through early adulthood that were identified in prior work for 197 at-risk young men. Early adult outcomes were assessed at ages 27-28 to 29-30 years. Predictive effects of arrest trajectory membership on outcomes were examined after controlling for various factors, including prior levels and early antisocial propensity. As early adults, both chronic offender groups showed poorer adjustment in terms of deviant peer affiliation, education, and work domains than did the Rare Offenders; High-Level Chronic Offenders stood out from all other groups in terms of mental health problems and physical aggression toward a partner. These effects represent plausible causal effects of developmental pathways of offending on the outcomes. Evidence for propensity effects on the outcomes was more limited. Theoretical and prevention implications are discussed.

Changes in At-Risk American Men's Crime and Substance Use Trajectories Following Fatherhood

Fatherhood can be a turning point in development and in men's crime and substance use trajectories. At-risk boys (N = 206) were assessed annually from ages 12 to 31 years. Crime, arrest, and tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use trajectories were examined. Marriage was associated with lower levels of crime and less frequent substance use. Following the birth of a first biological child, men's crime trajectories showed slope decreases, and tobacco and alcohol use trajectories showed level decreases. The older men were when they became fathers, the greater the level decreases were in crime and alcohol use and the less the slope decreases were in tobacco and marijuana use. Patterns are consistent with theories of social control and social timetables.

Heterosexual romantic relationships inside of prison: partner status as predictor of loneliness, sexual satisfaction, and quality of life

This study investigated the differences in loneliness, sexual satisfaction, and quality of life among three groups of prison inmates: inmates in a heterosexual romantic relationship with a fellow prisoner, inmates with a partner outside the prison, and inmates without a partner. In-person interviews with 70 male and 70 female inmates from the Topas Penitentiary (Spain) were conducted. These inmates lived in the same facility but in gender-segregated modules. After controlling for age, nationality, total time in prison, actual sentence time served, and estimated time to parole, the results showed a lower level of romantic loneliness, and a higher level of sexual satisfaction and global, psychological, and environment quality of life for the group of inmates with a heterosexual partner inside prison. These findings highlight the positive attributes associated with heterosexual romantic relationships between inmates inside the same prison.

Successful reentry: what differentiates successful and unsuccessful parolees?

In this research the authors examine the reentry of 51 parolees during the 3 years following their release from prison. The objective is to gain increased understanding of what differentiates successful parolees from those who fail. Success is defined as being discharged from parole by 3 years after release. The study examines the extent to which drug treatment, friendships, work, family bonds, and age are associated with reentry success. Contrary to expectations, it is found that closeness to mother, closeness to father, having a partner, being a parent, and education level are not associated with parole success. Those who succeed on parole are more likely to have taken a substance abuse class while in prison and on release tend to spend more time in enjoyable activities with friends. Among the employed, those that worked at least 40 hours a week are more likely to complete parole successfully. Qualitative data indicate that successful parolees had more support from family and friends and had more self-efficacy, which help them stay away from drugs and peers who use drugs. The findings are consistent with an integrated life course theory.

Romantic relationships and substance use in early adulthood: an examination of the influences of relationship type, partner substance use, and relationship quality

This study used longitudinal data from 909 young adults to examine associations between substance use and the status and quality of romantic relationships. Heavy alcohol use, marijuana use, and cigarette smoking, as well as relationship status, relationship quality, partner substance use, and other salient life circumstances were assessed at four time points in the two years after high school. Marriage, cohabiting relationships, and noncohabiting dating relationships were associated with reductions in heavy drinking and marijuana use relative to non-dating, after adjusting for adolescent substance use; marriage compared to not dating was associated with reductions in cigarette smoking. For those in romantic relationships, partner substance use moderated the associations between relationship quality and substance use for heavy drinking and for marijuana use, supporting the hypothesis derived from the Social Development Model that the protective effect of stronger social bonds depends on the use patterns of the partner to whom an individual is bonded.

A prospective three generational study of fathers' constructive parenting: influences from family of origin, adolescent adjustment, and offspring temperament

This prospective, intergenerational study considered multiple influences on 102 fathers' constructive parenting of 181 children. Fathers in the 2nd generation (G2) were recruited as boys on the basis of neighborhood risk for delinquency and assessed through early adulthood. The fathers' parents (G1) and the G2 mothers of G3 also participated. A multiagent, multimethod approach was used to measure G1 and G2 constructive parenting (monitoring, discipline, warmth, and involvement), G2 positive adolescent adjustment, and problem behavior in all 3 generations, including G3 difficult temperament and externalizing problems in early and middle childhood, respectively. Path modeling supported direct transmission of G1 constructive parenting of G2 in late childhood to G2 constructive parenting of G3 in middle childhood. Of note, G1 parenting indirectly influenced G2 parenting through G2 positive adjustment but not through G2 adolescent antisocial behavior. G1 parenting influenced G2 parenting in both early and middle childhood of G3. G2 parenting influenced G3 problem behavior but not vice versa. Intergenerational continuities in parenting persisted, even when additional influences were considered. Transmission pathways are not limited to life-course adversity. Rather, constructive parenting is maintained, in part, by engendering positive adjustment in offspring.

Intergenerational transmission of internalising and externalising behaviours across three generations: gender-specific pathways

BACKGROUND

Few studies have examined gender-specific pathways in the intergenerational transmission of internalising and externalising behaviours across three generations.

AIM

The current study considered both parental figures' internalising and externalising symptoms simultaneously and tested path models of the transmission of internalising and externalising symptoms from Generation 1 (G1) to Generation 2 (G2) and from G2 to Generation 3 (G3) by focusing on gender-specific pathways.

METHOD

The study used data from the Oregon Youth Study of 206 young men and two associated studies of their intimate partners (Couples Study) and children (Three-Generational Study) over 20 years.

RESULTS

Findings indicated that, in general, mothers' internalising behaviour showed robust influence on offspring's internalising symptoms across three generations, regardless of gender of the child. G2 men's externalising behaviour was further predicted by G1 mothers' internalising as well as externalising behaviour, albeit the latter was only marginally significant. G3 girls' internalising and externalising behaviour was predicted by their fathers' corresponding behaviour. Overall, fathers' influence on their sons was limited.

CONCLUSION

The findings shed important light on potential gender-specific mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of internalising and externalising behaviour.

Men's Aggression Toward Women: A 10-Year Panel Study

The present study examined the longitudinal course of men's physical and psychological aggression toward a partner across 10 years, using a community sample of young couples (N = 194) from at-risk backgrounds. Findings indicated that men's aggression decreased over time and that women's antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms predicted changes in men's aggression. This suggests the importance of studying social processes within the dyad to have a better understanding of men's aggression toward a partner.