DEMOGRAPHIC AND THEORETICAL VARIABLES IN THE AGE-PERIOD-COHORT ANALYSIS OF ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR

Past studies of age, period, and cohort effects on illegal behavior have either been atheoretical, or have attempted to test the Easterlin hypothesis that larger cohorts will have higher rates of illegal behavior. In the present study, variables suggested by an integrated theoretical model, which incorporates elements of strain, control, and learning theory, have been added to the analysis of age, period, and cohort effects. Most of the period effects found in previous analyses of illegal behavior remain in the models with the addition of the theoretical variables, but age effects are largely replaced by delinquent bonding, a variable suggested by learning theory. Variables from control theory have inconsistent effects on illegal behavior when they are added to the analysis, and it appears possible that control theory variables play a different role in individual level and aggregate analyses of illegal behavior Future directions for research within the age-period-cohort model of illegal behavior are suggested.