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Age, self-control, and adults’ offending behaviors

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Abstract

This article examined empirically whether Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) “general theory” explained criminal and imprudent behaviors among a community sample of adults across the age distribution. The findings indicated that low self-control was significantly related with both forms of self-reported offending activity through age fifty. Gottfredson and Hirschi’s claim that their theory explained offending across age, therefore, was generally supported. It is suggested that future empirical tests employ the “general theory” as a causal explanation of adult criminality.

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... Self-control has emerged as a powerful predictor of criminal and analogous behaviors (Arneklev, Grasmick, Tittle, & Bursick, 1993;Burton, Cullen, Evans, & Dunaway, 1994;Burton, Cullen, Evans, Alarid, & Dunaway, 1998;Burton, Evans, Cullen, Olivares, & Dunaway, 1999;Evans, Cullen, Burton, Dunaway, & Benson, 1997;Nagin & Paternoster, 1993). Indeed, the range of outcomes predicted by self-control, such as drug use (de Wit, 2009;Madden, Petry, Badger, & Bickel, 1997), seat belt use (Keane, Maxim, & Teevan, 1993;Longshore, 1998;Nakhaie, Silverman, & LaGrange, 2000;Tittle, Ward, & Grasmick, 2003), obesity (Elfhag & Morey, 2008;Gormally, Black, Daston, & Rardin, 1982), educational performance (Duckworth & Seligman, 2005;Schunk & Zimmerman, 1994;Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004), and a variety of imprudent behaviors (Forde, & Kennedy, 1997;Pratt & Cullen, 2000;Reisig & Pratt, 2011), remains empirically impressive. ...
... The two scales were moderately correlated (r ¼ .54). As a result, we combined the scales into a comprehensive measure of low self-control, similar to other researchers (Burton et al., 1999;Brownfield & Sorenson, 1993;Nagin & Paternoster, 1993). Likert-type scale responses were summed with higher values reflecting lower levels of self-control. ...
... Few criminological theories have received as much empirical attention as has Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) theory on self-control. Virtually every study finds an association between low self-control and criminal behavior Burton et al., 1994Burton et al., , 1998Burton et al., , 1999Evans et al., 1997;Nagin & Paternoster, 1993), imprudent behavior (Pratt & Cullen, 2000;Reisig & Pratt, 2011), and a range of other life outcomes (de Ridder et al., 2012;Holtfreter et al., 2008;Koenen, Caspi, Moffitt, Rijsdijk, 2006;Winfree, Taylor, He, & Esbensen, 2006;Pratt & Cullen, 2000;Unnever et al., 2003). The degree of empirical support connecting variation in self-control to criminal and analogous conduct is impressive and is reflected in various meta-analyses (Pratt & Cullen, 2000;Walters, 2001). ...
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Low self-control has emerged as a ubiquitous predictor of a range of behaviors and life outcomes, including criminal and analogous behaviors. Evidence linking self-control to criminal conduct, moreover, has also emerged from several cross-cultural studies. While important, cross-cultural studies remain limited in number and in scope. Extending empirical investigations into the effects of self-control cross-culturally, we present findings from data collected from Saudi Arabian high school youth. Low self-control was a substantive predictor of self-reported delinquency, violent behavior (VB), victimization, and delinquent peer associations for males and females. The effects of low self-control were found to be substantive, general, and invariant across sex within a culture that practices sex segregation and one that embraces harsh punishments for violent conduct.
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From a team of leading experts comes a comprehensive, multidisciplinary examination of the most current research including the complex issue of violence and violent behavior. The handbook examines a range of theoretical, policy, and research issues and provides a comprehensive overview of aggressive and violent behavior. The breadth of coverage is impressive, ranging from research on biological factors related to violence and behavior-genetics to research on terrrorism and the impact of violence in different cultures. The authors examine violence from international cross-cultural perspectives, with chapters that examine both quantitative and qualitative research. They also look at violence at multiple levels: individual, family, neighborhood, cultural, and across multiple perspectives and systems, including treatment, justice, education, and public health.
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Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) core proposition concerning the relationship between self-control and crime has been tested by numerous researchers. However, other important assertions of the theory have received less attention, particularly those relating to family characteristics as determinants of self-control. This research seeks to answer three questions, all focusing on the family. First, do family socialization variables predict self-control? Second, do the more structural family variables, such as socioeconomic status, family form, and family size, predict self-control directly or through the socialization variables? Finally, do the demographic variables of gender, race, and age predict self-control, and if so, are the effects direct or indirect through the structural family variables and / or the socialization variables? Using a sample of 1,139 junior high and high school students, we find that both parental supervision and attachment are strong predictors of self-control. With the exception of parental education, the structural family background variables exert their influence on self-control through the family process variables of attachment and supervision. Finally, both age and gender are direct predictors of self-control, even controlling for the structural background and family process variables, while the effect of race is entirely explained by family variables.
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The current research seeks to illuminate whether parenting is the predominant source of the development of self-control, or whether teachers contribute to the development of self-control among Korean youths. The findings indicate that Korean adolescents whose parents monitor and/or teachers discipline them when they engage in deviant behaviors are more likely to report higher levels of self-control. Also, the results indicate that youths with low self-control are more likely to engage in delinquency. These findings provide partial support for the generality and applicability of the theory in explaining deviance among Korean youths. Taking a broad perspective, our findings, however, may raise a serious theoretical question about Gottfredson and Hirschi's assertion that parental socialization is the only primary source of the development of self-control.
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A consequential development in victimization theory and research was the idea that individuals with low self‐control self‐select into the various risky behaviors that may ultimately result in their victimization. To establish the empirical status of the self‐control–victimization link, we subjected this body of work to a meta‐analysis. Our multilevel analyses of 311 effect size estimates drawn from 66 studies (42 independent data sets) indicate that self‐control is a modest yet consistent predictor of victimization. The results also show that the effect of self‐control is significantly stronger when predicting noncontact forms of victimization (e.g., online victimization) and is significantly reduced in studies that control directly for the risky behaviors that are assumed to mediate the self‐control–victimization link. We also note that the studies assessing self‐control and victimization are not representative of victimization research as a whole, with intimate partner violence (IPV), violence against women, and child abuse being severely underrepresented. We conclude that future research should continue to examine the causal processes linking self‐control to victimization, how self‐control shapes victims’ coping responses to their experience, and whether self‐control matters in contexts where individuals may have limited autonomy over the behavioral routines that put them at risk for victimization.
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Self-control theory is one of the most tested theories within the field of criminology. However, one of the basic assumptions of the theory has remained largely ignored. Gottfredson and Hirschi stated that the focus of their general theory of crime is the “connection between the self-control of the parent and the subsequent self-control of the child” (1990:100). However, no study to date has specifically tested this relationship. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study finds that mothers with low self-control do indeed produce children with lower self-control. To begin to understand the mechanism responsible for this relationship, several parenting practices used by the mothers are examined. The analysis shows that the self-control of the mother influences her choice of punishments, as well as having moderate impacts on how she supervises her children. In turn, higher supervision and several choices of punishments affect the development of self-control in the child. This study therefore provides support for a vital, yet previously unexamined, piece of the general theory of crime.
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Academic dishonesty is an insidious problem that besets most tertiary institutions, where considerable resources are expended to prevent and manage students' dishonest actions within academia. Using a mixed retrospective and prospective design this research investigated Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory as a possible explanation for academic dishonesty in 264 university students. The relationship between academic dishonesty and general criminality was also examined. A significant but small to moderate relationship between academic dishonesty and general criminality was present, including correlations with general dishonesty, violent crime and drug offending subcategories. These findings suggested that a general criminological theory may be of use in explaining academic dishonesty, but the overall ability of self-control variables to explain academic dishonesty was not strong. Controlled logistic regressions indicated that a significant positive association with academic dishonesty was only present for one of 6 self-control subscales (self-centeredness), and even this association was only present in the prospective study component. A strong relationship between past and future academic dishonesty was present. Implications of the study for institutions are discussed.
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There is growing interest in identifying the factors that contribute to variation in self-control. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) maintain that levels of self-control are determined solely through socialization processes, especially those that occur in the family. Another body of research, however, suggests that biological factors are also important to the development of self-control. The authors draw from these two lines of inquiry and examine the biosocial underpinnings to low self-control. Analyses of data from the National Survey of Children reveal that levels of self-control are the result of a complex arrangement of biological and social factors. Measures of neuropsychological deficits, birth complications, low birth weight, harsh parental punishment, family rules, and neighborhood disadvantage all have significant direct or indirect effects on levels of self-control. Additional analyses reveal significant associations between low self-control and delinquent involvement.
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The central tenet of Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory is that antisocial behavior is caused by stable between-individual differences in self-control. They also argue that after early childhood, interventions aimed at reducing antisocial behavior will be unsuccessful, as one's level of self-control is resilient to such efforts. This research tested the stability and resiliency hypotheses using a two-wave panel design in a sample of incarcerated offenders. The results indicated that self-control was not stable during a short period of time but that self-control was resilient to participation in a treatmentoriented boot-camp program.
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Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) contend that all deviance is subsumed under self-control theory and that individuals who commit any one deviant act will tend to commit other deviant acts as well. This research tests the correlation of illicit sexual behaviors with crime as they relate to measures of self-control. Secondly, this research examines the Gottfredson and Hirschi argument that their theory is a “general theory” and predicts all forms of deviance whereby low self-control is a predictor of both sexual deviance and crime. These analyses report illicit sexual behaviors are positively correlated with criminal behaviors providing support for Self-Control Theory. Furthermore, the analyses of this data support that low self-control is a predictor of illicit sexual behaviors and crime.
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Since its conception, A General Theory of Crime has attracted a considerable amount of interest among criminologists. At this particular juncture, the extant research literature has generally been supportive of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s theory. However, opportunity, a critical element of low-self-control theory, remains conspicuously untested. Although some empirical studies have examined this theoretical concept, they have neglected to take into consideration the issue of temporal ordering. The current investigation addressed this oversight by presenting a pool of research participants with an actual and controlled opportunity to commit fraudulent behavior in a natural setting.
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It is now approaching a decade since Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi promulgated what they called 'a general theory' of crime. This article scrutinizes the claims made by the theory as measured against the standards of science and the results of empirical inquiries into elements of the proposed theoretical construct.
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Several empirical studies have attempted to estimate the effect of low self-control on criminal and "analogous" behaviors. Most of these studies have shown that low self- control is an important feature of the cause(s) of crime. Although research is begin- ning to emerge that targets more specifically the "roots" of self-control via parental socialization (the most salient factor in the development of self-control according to Hirschi and Gottfredson), researchers have yet to explore the degree to which the structural characteristics of communities may influence patterns of parental social- ization and, in turn, individual levels of self-control. To address this question, the authors employ longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to examine community-level influences on parental socialization and self- control. The results indicate (1) self-control was predicted both cross-sectionally and longitudinally by both parental socialization and adverse neighborhood conditions, (2) the total effect of adverse neighborhood conditions on children's levels of self- control was just as strong as the total effect for indicators of parental socialization, and (3) important race differences did emerge, particularly with regard to the inter- relationships between our neighborhood-level measures and parental socialization.
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This study of a statewide, stratified random sample of 3,335 public high school students is designed to examine the robustness of self-control in predicting alcohol consumption, other drug use, crimes against persons, and property offenses. Comparisons in prediction of these forms of delinquency are made between two measures of self-control, social characteristics, and elements of other theories. An examination also is made of whether self-control accounts for commensurate amounts of variance within categories of social characteristics. A behavioral measure of self-control generally is a stronger predictor of delinquency than a cognitive measure. Inconsistent findings are observed in analyses of whether self-control accounts for commensurate variation in delinquency between and within categories of these social characteristics. Both measures are significant predictors of delinquency when they are simultaneously analyzed with many factors extrapolated from other theories. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of future theory and research.
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We examine the effect of self-control and opportunity on adolescent substance use. When theorizing about the role of opportunity, we believe the “sanction potential” of a given situation should be considered. Our results suggest the effect of self-control on substance use does not depend on the availability of substances in the home (high sanction potential), but friends’ substance use (low sanction potential) conditions the effect of self-control on adolescents’ smoking, drinking, and marijuana use. Therefore, adolescents with low self-control are more likely to use substances only when they are presented with attractive opportunities that are unlikely to lead to sanctions.
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Focusing on gender and age variations and using various measures of self-control and of crime/deviance, the authors' provide additional evidence concerning the strongest implications of self-control theory—that self-control interprets the main demo-graphic facts about crime/deviance and is of approximately equal import for all sub-categories of individuals. On one hand, the results are strongly supportive of the theory, showing that some measures of self-control not only predict misbehavior but they interpret the associations between gender and age and measures of crime/deviance. On the other hand, self-control does not appear to predict misbehavior equally well among various subcategories of individuals, particularly not for age groups, even failing to predict misbehavior at all for some groupings. Moreover, sup-port for the strongest claims of the theory are not robust, varying depending on how self-control and crime/deviance are measured.
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Self-control and strain perspectives are widely viewed as independent and contrasting explanations for crime and delinquency. This paper re-evaluates the competing paradigms approach by considering the two theories as potentially complementary in explaining participation in delinquency based on Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) assumption that self-control acts as a barrier to criminal behaviour. If such a claim is valid, one would hypothesize that individuals with high self-control would be able to mediate the effects of strain and refrain from engaging in delinquent activities. In contrast, adolescents with low self-control may not be equipped with the necessary constraints to abstain from delinquency and would therefore exhibit the greatest criminal propensities. A significant interaction term would support such claims. Data from a sample of over 2,000 adolescents attending junior and senior high schools in a western Canadian city were analysed to determine the independent and contextual effects of self-control and strain on involvement in delinquent behaviour. Results suggest that both self-control and strain are important contributors to delinquency, but in an additive and not an interactive way. Such results do not seem to provide support for claims made by control theorists, who would no doubt argue that the effects of strain should be conditioned by low self-control.
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Although the literature examining Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory is growing, an understudied area of inquiry concerns the role that race plays in the theory. Thus, this study examines the role that race plays in self-control theory. Using a random sample of juveniles from the Gang Resistance and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) evaluation, the findings show that low self-control has a link with delinquency for each race. However, the findings partially support Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory, with respect to race. Specifically, the findings show that low self-control has a link with delinquency for whites, but not for blacks.
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Research has demonstrated that (in)effective parenting influences whether a child/adolescent engages in deviant behaviors; however, research is mixed regarding whether that influence is direct. After a review of theoretical and empirical evidence, parenting factors outlined by several theories appear important in explaining the association between parenting and deviance. More importantly, however, is that the parental influence may not be direct, but rather mediated through a child/adolescent's level of self-control and social information processing skills. As such, evidence suggests that to fully understand the complex association between parenting and deviance, parenting and mediating factors from multiple theories must be explored simultaneously.
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The present study explores the relationships between Gottfredson and Hirschi's (199021. Gottfredson , Michael R. and Hirschi , Travis . 1990 . A General Theory of Crime . Stanford , CA : Stanford University Press . View all references) concept of low self-control and two forms of deviance more common among females than males, borderline personality characteristics and eating disorders. Ordinary least squares regression models revealed that self-control was significantly associated with both borderline personality characteristics and eating disorder symptoms among a sample of 161 female undergraduates. The findings of the present study highlight the potential utility in expanding our focus of the effects of low self-control beyond traditional analogous behaviors, especially when attempting to understand female behavior.
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With data from respondents in Nizhni Novgorod, Russia, we address the generality of self-control theory. We also assess two hypotheses. The first focuses on the attractiveness of criminal acts, that is, motivation toward crime. The second concerns the contention that the mediating link between self-control and criminal conduct is the failure of those with less self-control to anticipate the long-term costs of misbehavior. Although the magnitude of associations between self-control and indicators of criminal behavior is about the same in this study as it is in others, which suggests that the theory is not culturally bound, those associations are largely overshadowed by criminal attraction. Consistent with that, failure to anticipate costly long-term consequences does not appear to be the mediating link between self-control and criminal behavior: the evidence shows no tendency for sanction fear to be greater among those with greater self-control. In fact, sanction fear is modestly and significantly related to the crime measures independent of self-control, though sanction fear also appears to be influenced by criminal attraction. The results suggest that in the production of criminal behavior, motivation may be more important than controls inhibiting criminal impulses.
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The aim of this study was to assess determinant behavioral fac-tors for drug abuse among high school students based on the Ex-tended Parallel Process Model (EPPM). Self-control components were also assessed. A sample of 176 governmental high school stu-dents participated in this survey. Information was collected individ-ually through completion of a researcher-designed questionnaire. The results suggested that the EPPM theoretical variables of per-ceived severity and perceived self-efficacy and an additional vari-able, self-control, were related to behavior intentions against sub-stance abuse (r squared = 0. 35; F = 17.99; p = 0. 000). Self-control, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived susceptibility were related to attitudes against substance abuse (r squared = 0.27; F = 9.09; p = 0. 000). This study showed that self-control; attitudes against drug abuse, and peer resistance skills were related to adapting the protection motivation process (X 2 = 21.15; P < 0. 001). Including self-control as a complementary factor within the EPPM could be effective for designing primary drug abuse prevention programs and predicting pre drug abuse related behaviors. More work is needed to determine whether designs for drug abuse resistance This research was carried out by a grant from Dariush Institute and United Nation Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), office for the I.R of Iran. education might be improved if measures of self-control were inte-grated into EPPM.
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This article addresses two propositions on white-collar crime derived from a general theory of crime recently proposed by Gottfredson and Hirschi. This theory predicts that white-collar offenders are (a) as criminally versatile and (b) as prone to deviance as common offenders. To assess the validity of these propositions, the authors investigate the criminal records of white-collar and common offenders and their respective levels of participation in deviant activities. As the general theory predicts, some white-collar offenders are involved in crime and deviance to much the same degree as typical street criminals. A large majority differ significantly from street criminals in these regards, contradicting the theory and limiting its generality. The authors argue that the theory's rejection of motives as important causal forces is misguided and that a more complex causal structure is needed to account for patterns of white-collar offending.
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Gottfredson and Hirschi's recently introduced general theory of crime has received considerable empirical support. Researchers have found that low self-control, the general theory's core concept, is related to lawbreaking and to deviant behaviors considered by Gottfredson and Hirschi to be “analogous” to crime. In this article, we extend this research by assessing the effects of low self-control on crime and analogous behaviors and by using two distinct measures of self-control, an attitudinal measure and the analogous/behavior scale. Thus, following Gottfredson and Hirschi, we use analogous imprudent behaviors as outcomes of low self-control and as indicators of low self-control's effects on crime. We also examine an important but thus far neglected part of the theory: the claim that low self-control has effects not only on crime but also on life chances, life quality, and other social consequences. Consistent with the general theory, we found that both measures of self-control, attitudinal and behavioral, have effects on crime, even when controlling for a range of social factors. Further, the analysis revealed general support for the theory's prediction of negative relationships between low self-control and social consequences other than crime—life outcomes and quality of life.
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Analysis presented provides strong support for considering individual differences along personality dimensions to predict self-reported delinquency. The paper provides an explicit test of the Gottfredson and Hirschi concept of self-control and its utility in explaining variation in interpersonal delinquency, theft, vandalism, legal substance use, illegal substance use, and impnident behaviors. Multivariate analysis demonstrates that while the predictive power of the composite self-control measure is substantial, the six dimensions of self-control outlined by Gottfredson and Hirschi should not be combined into one self-control construct, but should instead be treated as six different personality characteristics when seeking (o explain different types of delinquency. The self-control construct and its six dimensions are tested independently on a sample of 975 juvenile respondents from Oklahoma who participated in a self-report survey in 1991. Findings suggest the dissagregation of both the Gottfredson and Hirschi self-control measure, and composite measures of delinquency commonly used in delinquency research.
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This article assesses empirically whether Gottfredson and Hirschi's “general theory” can account for the “gender gap” in crime and, when rival theories are included in the analysis, can explain criminal behavior for both males and females. Based on a sample of 555 adults, the results indicate that the relationship of gender to crime becomes nonsignificant when self-control is introduced into the analysis. Further, when males and females are analyzed separately, self-control is related, albeit differently, to males' and females' criminal involvement. These results suggest that Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory should be incorporated into future empirical assessments of gender and crime.
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In this paper we present a "routine activity approach" for analyzing crime rate trends and cycles. Rather than emphasizing the characteristics of offenders, with this approach we concentrate upon the circumstances in which they carry out predatory criminal acts. Most criminal acts require convergence in space and time of likely offenders, suitable targets and the absence of capable guardians against crime. Human ecological theory facilitates an investigation into the way in which social structure produces this convergence, hence allowing illegal activities to feed upon the legal activities of everyday life. In particular, we hypothesize that the dispersion of activities away from households and families increases the opportunity for crime and thus generates higher crime rates. A variety of data is presented in support of the hypothesis, which helps explain crime rate trends in the United States 1947-1974 as a byproduct of changes in such variables as labor force participation and single-adult households.
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Contrary to the image of college campuses as “ivory towers,” the victimization of college students recently has been portrayed as a serious problem deserving policy intervention. Based on interviews designed after the National Crime Victimization Survey, which were conducted with 3,472 randomly selected students across 12 institutions, we examined both the level and sources of students'victimization. More than one-third of the sample reported being victims during the 1993–94 academic year. Informed by the lifestyle-routine activities approach, the analysis revealed that the risk of property victimization was increased by proximity to crime, target attractiveness, exposure, and lack of guardianship. The main predictor of violent victimization was a lifestyle that included high levels of partying on campus at night and the recreational use of drugs.
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The present paper operationalizes and empirically tests the most recent theoretical speculations of Hirschi and Gottfredson regarding an individual level characteristic of self-control and its relation to earlier specifications of control theory as well as the literature on personality. Linkages are drawn between their broad delineation of self-control and personal disorders of hyperactivity, impulsivity, attention deficits, and minor conduct problems. Psychologists disagree about whether such disorders represent single or multiple traits and whether both behavioral and cognitive measures can appropriately depict personality characteristics. Employing structural equation techniques, support for several propositions derived from Gottfredson and Hirschi's thesis is found: Self-control subsumes several personality disorders and is significantly comprised by early behavioral indicators of aggression and fighting, is inversely related to other elements of the social bond, is moderately stable over a short period of time, and significantly predicts criminal convictions. However, questions remain regarding the ubiquity of self-control, the magnitude and meaning of stability, and the power of this perspective to explain all forms of self-reported delinquency.
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This paper addresses the general question of whether or not the satisfactory resolution of the methodological criticisms of self-report research will result in greater consistency between self-reported and official data with respect to the race and class distributions of delinquent behavior. We review the specific methodological criticisms of self-report delinquency (SRD) research; discuss the use of a new SRD measure in a national youth study; compare the race/class findings of this study with previous SRD research and with official arrest data; and examine the epidemiological and theoretical implications of these findings. Both class and race differentials are found in this study. It appears likely that the differences between these findings and those in earlier SRD studies are a result of differences in the specific SRD measures used. Additionally, these findings suggest a logical connection between SRD and official measures, and they provide some insight into the mechanism whereby official data produce more extreme race and class (as well as age and sex) differences than do self-report measures. The results of this study also have implications for previous tests of theoretical propositions which used self-report delinquency data. In short, prior self-report measures may not have been sensitive enough to capture the theoretically important differences in delinquency involvement.
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The central variable in classic strain theory is the individual's level of dissatisfaction or frustration with his or her monetary status. This variable, however, has been ignored in virtually all tests of the theory. Most often, strain is measured indirectly in terms of the disjunction between aspirations and expectations. This paper directly measures dissatisfaction with monetary status, and draws on classic strain theory to explore the determinants and effects of such dissatisfaction. Data from a sample of adults in Cincinnati indicate that dissatisfaction is highest among objectively deprived individuals and those who desire a lot of money, have low expectations for making a lot of money, and feel relatively deprived. Further, dissatisfaction has a positive effect on both income-generating crime and drug use. This effect is strongest among those who have criminal friends and beliefs conductive to crime. Unlike the findings in much previous research, these data provide qualified support for classic strain theory.
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In A General Theory of Crime, Gottfredson and Hirschi propose that low self-control, in interaction with criminal opportunity, is the major cause of crime. The research reported in this article attempts to test this argument while closely following the nominal definitions presented by Gottfredson and Hirschi. A factor analysis of items designed to measure low self-control is consistent with their contention that the trait is unidimensional. Further, the proposed interaction effect is found for self-reported acts of both fraud and force (their definition of crime). Inconsistent with the theory are (a) the finding that criminal opportunity has a significant main effect, beyond its interaction with low self-control, on self-reported crime and (b) the substantial proportion of variance in crime left unexplained by the theoretical variables. Suggestions are offered for modifying and expanding the theory.
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The present article examines the key concepts underlying victimization theories (i.e., exposure, proximity, target attractiveness, guardianship). Measures of each concept are developed and evaluated in terms of their ability to explain individuals' risks of residential burglary, personal theft, and personal violence. Using data from 5,271 respondents in the British Crime Survey, mixed empirical support is found for the structural-choice model underlying current victimization theories. Specifically, the structural components of these theories (proximity and exposure) are more consistently related to victimization experiences than the target-selection or choice components (attractiveness and guardianship). Multiplicative models that test for interaction among these major variables also produce results that are contrary to theoretical productions. The authors conclude that present theories do not adequately describe individuals' risks of victimization and discuss some alternative directions for future research on criminal victimization.
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One of the few facts agreed on in criminology is the age distribution of crime. This fact has been used to criticize social theories of crime causation, to provide the foundation for other theories, to justify recent emphases on career criminals, and to support claims of superiority for longitudinal designs in criminological research. In the present paper, we argue that the age distribution of crime is sufficiently invariant over a broad range of social conditions that these uses of the age distribution are not justified by available evidence.
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This article presents an empirical test of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime. Measures of crime equivalents were regressed on a measure of self-control and other relevant independent variables to determine their independent effects. Self-control was found to have the strongest effect.
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This paper builds on work by Nagin and Paternoster in which they contend that two recent developments in criminological theory, self-control and rational choice, have been explored separately rather than in conjunction with one another. In their analysis, Nagin and Paternoster found direct effects for variables from each of these theories and called for more research into simultaneous examination of the two. We build on their work by delineating a more highly specified model of rational offending, in which we observe that the research thus far has not examined the indirect effects of low self-control. We believe that this area is grossly underdeveloped and that such an examination is necessary for a more complete understanding of criminal offending. We advance three hypotheses concerning the integration of low self-control into a rational choice framework: (1) that low self-control will have both direct and indirect effects via situational characteristics on intentions to shoplift and drive drunk; (2) that situational characteristics will have direct effects on intentions to deviate, as well as effects on other situational factors; and (3) that a model uniting the effects of low self-control and situational characteristics will provide a good fit to the data. We find support for all these hypotheses and suggest that future theoretical developments will be improved by the integration of low self-control with situational characteristics in a more general model of offending.
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In this study, the authors tested two hypotheses drawn from the general theory of crime. The first hypothesis is that low self-control is a major individual-level cause of crime. The second, that the effect of self-control is contingent on criminal opportunity. The measure of self-control used was a 23-item self-report index. To measure criminal opportunity, two proxy variables were used: gender and crime-involved friends. Crime measures included number of criminal acts of force and number of criminal acts of fraud reported in a 6-month recall period by a sample of 522 criminal offenders. Self-control was lower among offenders reporting more crimes of force and fraud, but the variance explained by self-control was low in each case. The relationship between self-control and fraud crimes was contingent on criminal opportunity, but the relationship between self-control and force crimes was not. Implications of these findings for the general theory of crime are reviewed.
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In explaining crime, some criminological theories emphasize time-stable individual differences in propensity to offend while others emphasize more proximate and situational factors. Using scenario data from a sample of college undergraduates we have found evidence to support both positions. A measure of criminal propensity (poor self-control) was found to be significantly related to self-reported decisions to commit three offenses (drunk driving, theft, and sexual assault). Even after considering differences in self-control, there was evidence to suggest that the attractiveness of the crime target, the ease of committing the crime with minimum risk, and perceptions of the costs and benefits of committing the crime were all significantly related to offending decisions. Our results suggest that theories of criminal offending should include notions pertaining to persistent individual differences in criminal propensity and choice-relevant variables.
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Recently, Gottfredson and Hirschi proposed a general theory of crime. Central to the theory is the assumption that most criminal behavior is impulsive and reflects a lack of self-control. Thus criminals are seen as risk takers who are less restrained than noncriminals from illegal activities. In a secondary analysis of data from a roadside traffic survey, this study attempts to test Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory by examining the relationship between self-control and driving under the influence of alcohol. Using several indicators of self-control, the results support the existence of a relationship for both men and women between low self-control and driving under the influence of alcohol.
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Discusses the divergence between control theory and the life-course perspective with regard to correlates of criminal behavior. It appears that the basic findings about crime and delinquency produced by cross-sectional and longitudinal research are the same. These correlates include versatility, stability, and age. It has been argued that these authors' argument about age effects on crime may be said to embody almost all of the fallacies identified by the life-course perspective. Control theory asserts that delinquent acts are a subset of acts that produce immediate benefit at the risk of long-term cost, and that such acts tend to be committed by persons relatively unlikely to consider the long-term implications of their current behavior. Control theory therefore reduces the causal significance of life-course events and sees such events as consequences of the mechanism that explains versatility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Since Hirschi and Stark's (1969) surprising failure to find religious (“hellfire”) effects on delinquency, subsequent research has generally revealed an inverse relationship between religiosity and various forms of deviance, delinquency, and crime. The complexity of the relationship and conditions under which it holds, however, continue to be debated. Although a few researchers have found that religion's influence is noncontingent, most have found support—especially among youths—for effects that vary by denomination, type of offense, and social and/or religious context. More recently the relationship has been reported as spurious when relevant secular controls are included. Our research attempts to resolve these issues by testing the religion-crime relationship in models with a comprehensive crime measure and three separate dimensions of religiosity. We also control for secular constraints, religious networks, and social ecology. We found that, among our religiosity measures, participation in religious activities was a persistent and noncontingent inhibiter of adult crime.
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Recently a revisionist view of strain theory's empirical adequacy has emerged which holds that the theory's explanatory power depends on how it is operationalized. With an adult community sample, we empirically assess three separate measures of strain to explain self-reported crime: the gap between aspirations and expectations, blocked opportunities, and relative deprivation. The findings reveal that the aspirations-expectations measure is not related to criminal involvement, while perceived blocked opportunities and feelings of relative deprivation significantly affect adult offending. These relationships, however, fail to persist after measures from competing theories (i.e., low self-control, differential association, and social bond) are introduced as controls in the regression equations. Thus, measures from rival theories offer a more fruitful approach to explaining self-reported adult offending.
Article
Routine activity/lifestyle theories have been used to explain temporal changes in crime rates, the social ecology of crime, and individuals' risks of criminal victimization. Using a panel of 33,773 individuals and 19,005 households at two points in time, the current study extends previous research by examining whether changes in lifestyles are associated with changes in individuals' risks of personal and property victimization. Changes in lifestyles which signal greater target visibility or exposure to motivated offenders (greater daytime and nighttime activity outside the home) and reduced guardianship (decreases in the number of household members) are generally associated with increased risks of both types of victimization. Persons who maintained high levels of nighttime activity outside the household were also more likely to remain victims at both time periods. However, active lifestyle changes (increased precautionary actions) did not have their expected impact on reducing victimization risks, and several other changes over time also were inconsistent with expectations. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of passive and active lifestyle changes on victimization risks and the implications of our findings for developing sociological theories of criminal victimization.
Article
This paper—based on data from a national survey of 14 and 15 year olds and their parents in England and Wales—examines the relationship between teenager lifestyles and activity patterns and self-report offending. The legal ways in which teenagers spend their time show consistent relationships with involvement in crime. Offenders and nonofienders differ markedly on both general and specific measures where they go, whom they are with, and what they do. Consistent with models of criminal behavior based on group processes, these differences in activity patterns also extend to a number of the major correlates of delinquency whose effects on crime are typically conceived in lifestyle terms. These results further indicate that the link between activity patterns and delinquency is different between males and females in the age group surveyed.
Article
This paper explores the importance of linking the micro- and macro-level dimensions of household and personal victimization. Specifically, we use the British Crime Survey, a nationally representative sample of 10,905 residents of England and Wales, to examine differences in victimization risk associated with demographic characteristics, lifestyle-routine activities, and community context. In general, victimization risk is highest for the young, the singles, and those who frequently go out at night or leave their homes empty. Independent of these individual-level effects, however, burglary victimization is directly related to community levels of primary (single)-individual households, family disruption, unemployment, and housing density, while personal theft is inversely related to community social cohesion (friendship networks, residential stability). Furthermore, personal theft is positively related to community street activity (i.e., rate at which residents go out at night on foot), regardless of individual-level lifestyle. The results thus support a multilevel opportunity model of predatory victimization.
Article
In criminology, researchers have examined the role of lifestyle and activity patterns on criminal victimization. The vast majority of this research has focused on crime victims as a critical link in criminal victimization, but little attention has been given to the activity patterns of offenders or the connection between the various elements of the offenders' routine activities. This analysis presents a description of the activity patterns of 431 offenders who were heavily involved in crime during 1990–1991 in Philadelphia. A first-order Markov chain process best describes the manner in which offenders enter various activities. The preliminary analysis of these data not only provides additional support for the interrelationship between drug use and crime but also demonstrates that offenders participate in a wide array of activities.
Article
Low self-control theory will have an impact on criminological theory. G&H's arguments are too forcefully and intelligently made to be ignored. I anticipate that the theory will inspire a great deal of attention and research (and much of it may be in an attempt to prove them wrong). The value of self-control theory would be advanced even more, however, if G&H would grapple with the tautology problem, attend to theoretical linkages with prior control theory, and ease off a bit from the oppositional strategy in comparing their theory with other theories.
Article
Gottfredson and Hirschi'sA General Theory of Crime contends that individual differences in involvement in criminal and analogous behavior are due largely to individual differences in the personality trait they call low self-control. Among the various behaviors considered analogous to crime are imprudent behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and gambling. This research explores the generality of Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory by examining the link between low self-control and these imprudent behaviors. The results are mixed. In support of the theory, the data reveal a modest but significant effect of a scale designed to capture the various components of low self-control on an index of imprudent behavior. A more detailed analysis, however, reveals that some of the components of low self-control, specifically those probably linked to low intelligence, detract from the scale's predictive power. In fact, one of the components, risk-seeking, is more predictive than the more inclusive scale. Furthermore, one of the imprudent acts, smoking, appears to be unaffected by low self-control. These contradictory findings suggest the need for theoretical refinements.
Article
This paper introduces the idea of domain-specific models of victimization as a means of improving the fit between theoretical concepts in routine activity theory and available data. Peoples' activity and their victimization experience can be divided into domains such as work and leisure. This paper focuses on the work domain. It demonstrates that activities performed as part of the occupational role affect the risk of victimization at work to a much greater degree than demographic characteristics of workers. These findings provide support both for routine activity theory generally and for domain-specific models as a particular approach to testing the theory.
Article
This research examines the effects of an active "night life" on involvement in interpersonal violence as either an actor, a witness, or a target. The results show that males with an active night life are more likely to witness as well as participate in violent encounters, whereas an active night life is not a risk factor for females. The fact that night life affects witnessing violence, and engaging in nondomestic but not domestic violence, supports a routine activity approach over other explanations. The results also show that young men, and men without family obligations, are more likely to be involved in nondomestic violence, in part because they go out at night more frequently.
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