Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Relationship Between Educational Mobility and Crime

Abstract

Increases in postsecondary enrollment among minorities, decreases among Whites, and the growing concern of downward intergenerational mobility in the United States suggest potentially meaningful variation in the role of education on well-being across the life course. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, the present study examines the relationship between intergenerational educational mobility (i.e., a comparison of one’s educational achievements to those of one’s parents’) and crime, as well as the degree to which this association is moderated by race and ethnicity. Results suggest that upward mobility particularly when one completes a 4-year degree is associated with decreases in crime. Downward mobility, however, is associated with increases in crime only among Whites. Moreover, and consistent with theories of social mobility, strain, and social control, these associations are partially mediated by familial and socioeconomic attainments as well as social–psychological measures. Findings are discussed as they relate to the subjective and objective meaning of education across generations for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics.