Long-term effects of parental divorce on young adult male crime.

The purpose of this study was to explore the long-term effects of parental divorce on young adult male crime from a longitudinal perspective. Four hundred and twenty-three males were randomly selected from a Danish birth cohort. Results of analyses of variance showed an initial significant relationship between divorce and young adult crime. However, the effects of divorce disappeared when further path analysis controlled for the effects of social class and father's criminality. In addition, time of divorce did not have an effect on later criminal behavior.