It’s not clear why men’s behaviors might improve after marriage, he noted. Married men may spend more time with their spouses than their friends, King said, and bad behaviors such as delinquency and binge drinking tend to be group activities. In addition, married men “have more to lose” if they’re caught doing illegal activities, and may care what their spouses think.

It’s also not clear why men with more antisocial behaviors may not marry in the first place, Burt said. They are probably not the most eligible bachelors, she noted. “You may not be looking to settle down with someone who’s prone to aggression, theft, and other things.” And for men with these tendencies, marriage may not be so appealing, she added.

Whether the same trend is true in women is also not clear, Burt noted, since women are less likely to have antisocial behaviors in the first place.