Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) has evolved over the last decade with increasing interest in how IPV develops over adolescence and young adulthood. Studies examining patterns of IPV over time have generally focused on victimization with less attention to temporal shifts in perpetration. While it is generally assumed that IPV peaks during young adulthood, this has not been empirically verified and documented. Additionally, prior longitudinal analyses of IPV have focused on identifying trajectories and their accompanying risk factors, with less attention given to within-individual change in IPV experiences across and within relationships. Drawing on five waves of data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), we examined patterns of the perpetration of IPV among a diverse sample of adolescents and young adults (51.1% female, 63.9% non-Hispanic White, 24.6% non-Hispanic Black, 11.5% Hispanic) spanning the ages of 13–28 years (N = 1,164). Analyses demonstrated that IPV patterns deviate from the age-crime curve, with women’s involvement in IPV increasing, while their involvement in other antisocial behaviors is decreasing. Traditional behavioral and psychological risk factors (delinquency, alcohol and drug use, depressive symptoms) accounted for some of the age variation in IPV for men, but these factors did not account for age variation in IPV among women. Relationship risk factors including frequency of disagreements, trust, jealousy, validation and self-disclosure, however, accounted for substantial portions of the age-IPV perpetration relationship for male and female youth. These findings reinforce recent calls for prevention efforts that focus on the development and maintenance of healthy relationships.

Contemporary norms of fatherhood emphasize the dual demands of breadwinning and daily involvement in childcare. Recent qualitative research suggests that working-class fathers find it difficult to meet these demands due to job instability and workplace inflexibility. Yet, little quantitative research has examined how employment characteristics are related to fathers’ parenting stress, in comparison with mothers’. Analyses using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,165) show that unemployment and workplace inflexibility, but not overwork, multiple jobs, odd-jobs, and nonstandard hours, are related to more parenting stress for fathers. Although these two factors are also related to more parenting stress for mothers, nuanced gender differences emerged: these are better predictors than other parental or child characteristics for fathers only, and the effect size of workplace inflexibility is greater for fathers than mothers. In sum, securing a job with flexible schedule is central to reducing fathers’ parenting stress.

Using longitudinal data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), we examine the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and depressive symptoms during adolescence and young adulthood (N = 1, 273) while controlling for time-stable and time-varying correlates. Results show temporal changes in depressive symptoms, such that increases in depressive symptoms correspond to IPV exposure. While prior work has theorized that certain populations may be at increased psychological vulnerability from IPV, results indicate that both perpetration and victimization are associated with increases in depressive symptoms for both men and women and irrespective of whether IPV exposure occurred in adolescence or young adulthood. Cumulative exposure to IPV does not appear to increase depressive symptoms beyond the effect observed for the most recent IPV exposure, but physical maltreatment by a parent does appear to diminish the effect of IPV perpetration on depressive symptoms for a small subset of the sample.

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There is a long tradition of studying parent-child relationships and adolescent delinquency. However, the association between parent-child relationships and criminal offending during young adulthood is less well understood. Although the developmental tasks of young adulthood tend to focus on intimate relationships, employment, and family formation, the parent-child bond persists over the life course and likely continues to inform and shape behavior beyond adolescence. Using data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), the influence of parental involvement on patterns of offending among respondents interviewed first as adolescents and later as young adults is examined. The TARS sample used for our study (N=1,007) is demographically diverse (49.5% female; 25.3% Black; 7.2% Hispanic) and includes youth beyond those enrolled in college. The influences of both early and later parenting factors such as support, monitoring and conflict on young adults' criminal behavior are examined. Results show that early monitoring and ongoing parental support are associated with lower offending in young adulthood. These effects persist net of peer influence and adolescent delinquency. This suggests the importance of examining multiple ways in which parental resources and support influence early adult behavior and well-being.Criminologists interested in adolescent delinquency (e.g., Moffitt, 1993;Warr, 2007), and adult criminality (e.g., Laub and Sampson, 2003) have frequently examined the importance of family relationships. Research on delinquency has assessed the role of parental support during early childhood and parental monitoring during the more turbulent adolescent years. Prior work on offending during adulthood has typically focused on ways in which marriage influences criminal desistance. These emphases assume that as the individual transitions to adulthood, the adult marriage bond is primary and the family of origin no longer plays a large role. As Schroeder, Giordano and Cernkovich (2010) noted recently, criminology has in large part either ignored or openly dismissed parents as an influential factor in the lives of adults.The current study uses longitudinal data to evaluate in what ways parents might 'matter' beyond adolescence with regard to criminal offending, as young people transition into adulthood. We draw on recent theoretical work on emerging adulthood (e.g., Arnett, 2000;Shanahan, 2000;Aquilino & Supple, 2001; Galambos, Turner, & TiltonWeaver, 2005), using a contemporary sample of young adults. We explore the role of adolescent parenting but also on-going relationships between parents and their adult children as factors associated with life course patterns of criminal continuity and change.* Direct correspondence to Wendi L. Johnson, Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403 (wljohns@bgsu.edu). NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript J Youth Adolesc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 July 1. PARENTS AND OFFENDING ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE Parenting in...