A major challenge in studying the relationship between mental disorder and violent behavior lies in eliminating spuriousness from the analysis because the two share many of the same risk factors. This study uses nationally representative data from the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities 1997 ( N = 17,248) in an attempt to isolate causal effects of mental health problems on violent behavior among criminal offenders. Controlling for respondents' past violent behavior and other relevant factors, the research found that a history of mental health treatment is more strongly associated with assaultive violence and sexual offenses than with other types of crimes. In addition, there is support for a deviance hypothesis: Offenders with mental health problems tend to engage in more deviant types of criminal acts than those without such problems.

Objectives This study examines the effects of young adult transitions into marriage and cohabitation on criminal offending and substance use, and whether those effects changed since the 1970s as marriage rates declined and cohabitation rates rose dramatically. It also examines whether any beneficial effects of cohabitation depend on marriage intentions. Methods Using multi-cohort national panel data from Monitoring the Future (N = 15,875), the authors estimated fixed effects models relating within-person changes in marriage and cohabitation to changes in criminal offending and substance use. Results Marriage predicts lower levels of criminal offending and substance use, but the effects of cohabitation are limited to substance use outcomes and to engaged cohabiters. There are no cohort differences in the associations of marriage and cohabitation with criminal offending, and no consistent cohort differences in their associations with substance use. There is little evidence of differences in effects by gender or parenthood. Conclusions Young adults are increasingly likely to enter romantic partnership statuses that do not appear as effective in reducing antisocial behavior. Although cohabitation itself does not reduce antisocial behavior, engagement might. Future research should examine the mechanisms behind these effects, and why non-marital partnerships reduce substance use and not crime.

This study uses prospective longitudinal data to examine who acquired a first tattoo among a national sample of adolescents (n ¼ 13,101). Results indicate that social bonds, prior deviant involvement, self-protection, and negative self-appraisal all were predictive of tattoo acquisition. Results also show nontrivial differences in the likelihood of tattoo acquisition for different subgroups of adolescents, ranging from 1 in 5 for adolescents who scored high on several risk factors at once to 1 in 160 for those who scored low. Implications for future research on tattoo acquisition among adolescents are discussed.Much has been written in the scholarly and public presses about the rising rates of tattoo acquisition among adults and adolescents. Most sources agree that the past thirty years have seen a ''tattoo Renaissance,'' as tattooing has been adopted by middle-class adults as a means of expressing nuanced sensibilities regarding spirituality, body politics,

A long-standing critique of adolescent employment is that it engenders a precocious maturity of more adult-like roles and behaviors, including school disengagement, substance use, sexual activity, inadequate sleep and exercise, and work-related stress. Though negative effects of high-intensity work on adolescent adjustment have been found, little research has addressed whether such work experiences are associated with precocious family formation behaviors in adolescence, such as sexual intercourse, pregnancy, residential independence, and union formation. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we find that teenagers who spend long hours on the job during the school year are more likely to experience these family formation behaviors earlier than youth who work moderately or not at all.

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