title: Parental separation at birth and criminal behaviour in adulthood--a long-term follow-up of the Finnish Christmas Seal Home children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parental absence has been connected with later criminality. We studied the association between very early separation and criminality in a unique data set.
  
  
  METHODS
  The index cohort consisted of 2,906 subjects born between 1945 and 1965 in Finland who were temporarily isolated from their family immediately after birth and sent to adequate nursing homes due to tuberculosis in the family. The average separation time was 7 months. For every index subject, two reference subjects (matched for sex, year of birth and place of birth) were gathered. Data on criminal offences were obtained from Statistics Finland arising from adolescence to middle age, between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1998. The association between parental separation and subcategories of non-violent and violent criminality and violent recidivism, respectively, in male and female offspring was analysed. Subjects who had committed at least two violent crimes were defined as violent recidivists.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the male index subjects, 12.1% as compared with 7.1% of the reference cohort (estimated relative risk RR 1.73; 95% CI 1.42-2.11) had committed violent offences. Of the male index subjects 5.2% and of the male reference subjects 3.6% were violent recidivists (RR 1.47; 1.10-1.98). Of the male index subjects 26.3% and of the reference cohort 23.4% had committed nonviolent crimes (RR 1.14; 1.01-1.29). Among females, non-violent crimes were committed by 7.9% of the index subjects and by 5.0% of the reference subjects, respectively (RR 1.54; 1.18-2.00). Violent crimes were rare among female subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Criminal behaviour was more prevalent among both male and female subjects separated at birth from their families because of tuberculosis in the family than in the reference cohort. Especially violent crimes were prevalent in the male index cohort. Even so, the differences between the index and reference cohorts were rather modest. Very early separation may have some, although limited, influence on later criminality in the offspring.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and University Hospital of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Pirjo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mäki
authors.forename: Helinä
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hakko
authors.forename: Matti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Joukamaa
authors.forename: Esa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Läärä
authors.forename: Matti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Isohanni
authors.forename: Juha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Veijola
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003417:Criminal Psychology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009724:Nurseries, Infant / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D013995:Time; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000517:prevention & control