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

Female romantic partners' influence on official crime occurrence for men across a 12-year period in early adulthood was examined within a comprehensive dynamic prediction model including both social learning and social control predictors. We hypothesized that relationship stability, rather than attachment to partner, would be associated with reduced likelihood of crime, whereas women's antisocial behavior would be a risk factor, along with deviant peer association. Models were tested on a sample of at-risk men [the Oregon Youth Study (OYS)] using zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) modeling predicting to 1) arrest persistence (class and count) and 2) arrest onset class. Findings indicated that women's antisocial behavior was predictive of both onset and persistence of arrests for men, and deviant peer association was predictive of persistence. Relationship stability was protective against persistence.