Critical Evaluation

The research questions that are studied in the article Cutting the grass: A reexamination of the link between marital attachment, delinquent peers, and desistance from marijuana use (Maume et al. 2005) are: Are higher levels of marital attachment associated with greater odds of desistance from marijuana? The second question asked is as follows: Is the relationship between martial attachment and desistance explained by the impact that the former has on delinquent peer association? The final question that is then asked is: Are the answers to the above questions affected when non-random sample selection is taken into account?

The research questions were justified by using 3 previous literature reviews to justify the question that were being asked. The first that was used in the theoretical background was The Role of Marriage in an Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control and was conducted by Sampson and Laub This study looked at transitions and trajectories as well as how transitions impact behavior at the different stages in life. The study also looks at how different transitions such as schooling, employment and marriage during adulthood are more likely to make individuals conform rather then commit a crime.

The second study, which was conducted by Warr in 1998, is titled An Alternative Interpretation of the Marriage Effect looks at the relationship between marriage and desistance. The study looks at how much time a married person would spend with their friends and the type of friends the person is more likely to have. This study also shows that the desistance from marijuana changes when the delinquent peer association has been controlled and describes this as the “marriage effect”. Warr also finds that once the number of delinquent friends changes the relationship between marriage and marijuana use becomes statistically insignificant.

The third and final study that was used during the theoretical background was the study of Marijuana Use and Desistance. This study looked at marijuana uses in early adulthood and looks at how marijuana use can potentially drop when an adult transitions from single to married. This study looks at the link between desistance in drug usage and predatory crime.

I believe that there was one hypothesis stated. The hypothesis hat was found was that the desistance from crime is a result of the development of special bonds that accompany adult transitions, such as entry into marriage. This hypothesis was adequately justified with the research that took place in the theoretical background as each of the research pieces all had a link to how crime and drug use is minimized if not completely diminished when an adult transitions into marriage in their early adulthood.

To address the research questions and carry out the reexamination questions and their answers were used from the National Youth Survey. In particular the researchers used data