Gottfredson and Hirschi claimed, as part of their general theory of crime, that a child’s criminal propensity, what they called level of self-control, is fairly fixed by age 10. Low self-control children, they further claimed, exhibit greater proclivities for delinquency and analogous behaviors than children with high levels of self-control. They see self-control levels for children at both ends of the spectrum—and their propensities for crime and analogous behaviors—as immutable over the life course. The authors explore the self-control levels, self-reported illegal behavior, and supporting attitudes exhibited by a panel of youths from in six cities at five points in time. Some of our findings substantiated Gottfredson and Hirschi’s claims (e.g., claims linking self-control, sex, and race or ethnicity); however, other findings are at odds with their theory (e.g., the unchanging nature of self-control). The authors review the implications of these findings for self-control theory.
Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30, 47-87.
2.
Akers, R. L., & Sellers, C. S. (2004). Criminological theories: Introduction, evaluation, and application. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
3.
Arneklev, B. J., Cochran, J. K., & Gainey, R. R. (1998). Testing Gottfredson and Hirschi’s ‘low self-control’ stability hypothesis. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 23, 107-127.
4.
Arneklev, B. J., Grasmick, H. G., & Bursik, R. J., Jr. (1999). Evaluating the dimensionality and invariance of low self-control. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 15, 307-331.
5.
Baltagi, B. H. (2001). Economic analysis of panel data, (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
6.
Bartusch, D. R. J., Lyanm, D. R., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1997). Is age important? Testing a general versus a developmental theory of antisocial behavior. Criminology, 35, 13-48.
7.
Clogg, C. C., Petkova, E., & Haritou, A. (1995). Statistical methods for comparing regression coefficients between models. American Journal of Sociology, 100, 1261-1293.
8.
Cohen, L. E., & Vila, B. J. (1995). Self-control and social control: An exposition of the Gottfredson-Hirschi/Sampson-Laub debate. Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention, 5, 125-150
9.
DeLisi, M., Hochstetler, A., & Murphy, D. S. (2003). Self-control behind bars: A validation study of the Grasmick et al. scale. Justice Quarterly, 20, 241-263.
10.
Esbensen, F.-A., Miller, M. H., Taylor, T. J., He, N., & Freng, A. (1999). Differential attrition rates and active parental consent. Evaluation Review, 23, 316-335.
11.
Esbensen, F.-A., Osgood, D. W., Taylor, T. J., Peterson, D., & Freng, A. (2001). How great is G.R.E.A.T.? Results from a quasi-experimental design. Criminology and Public Policy, 1, 87-118.
12.
Eysenck, H., & Eysenck, M. W. (1985). Personality and individual differences. New York: Plenum.
13.
Farrington, D. P. (1988). Psychological factors in the explanation and reduction of delinquency. Today’s Delinquent, 1988, 37-51.
14.
Frost, L., Moffitt, T., & McGee, R. (1989). Neuropsychological correlates of psychopathology in an unselected cohort of young adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98, 307-313.
15.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1989). A propensity-event theory of crime. In W. S. Laufer & F. Adler (Eds.), Advances in criminological theory (vol. 1, pp. 57-67). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
16.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
17.
Grasmick, H. G., Tittle, C. R., Bursik, R. J., & Arneklev, B. J. (1993). Testing the core empirical implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30, 5-19.
18.
Hagan, J., Simpson, J., & Gillis, A. R. (1979). The sexual stratification of social control: A gender-based perspective on crime and delinquency. British Journal of Sociology, 30, 25-38.
19.
Harrison, A. O., Wilson, M. N., Pine, C. J., Chan, S. Q., & Buriel, R. (1990). Family ecologies of ethnic minority children. Child Development, 61, 347-362.
20.
Hoffman, J. P., & Cerbone, F. G. (1999). Stressful life events and delinquency escalation in early adolescence. Criminology, 37, 343-373.
21.
Hsiao, C. (1986). Analysis of panel data. New York: Cambridge University Press.
22.
Hsiao, C. (1995). Panel analysis for metric data. In G. Arminger, C. Clogg, & M. Sobel (Eds.), Handbook of statistical modeling for the social and behavioral sciences (pp. 361-400). New York: Plenum.
23.
Isakson, K., & Jarvis, P. (1999). The adjustment of adolescents during the transition to high school: A short-term longitudinal study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 1-26.
24.
Judge, G. G., Carter, R. H., Griffiths, W. E., Lutkepohl, H., & Lee, T. (1988). Introduction to the theory and practice of econometrics (2nd ed.) New York: Wiley.
25.
La Grange, T. C., & Silverman, R. A. (1999). Low self-control and opportunity: Testing the general theory of crime as an explanation for gender differences in delinquency. Criminology, 37, 41-69.
26.
Longshore, D., Stein, J. A., & Turner, S. (1998). Reliability and validity of a self-control measure: Rejoinder. Criminology, 36, 175-182.
27.
Longshore, D., Turner, S., & Stein, J. A. (1996). Self-control in a criminal sample: An examination of construct validity. Criminology, 34, 209-228.
28.
Lozeau, S. C. (1998). The effects of transition from grade 8 to grade 9 upon self-perception of transcendent students, as a group and by gender (eighth grade, ninth grade). Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Idaho, Moscow.
29.
Mihalic, S., Fagan, S., Irwin, K., Ballard, D., & Elliott, D. (2004). Blueprints for violence prevention. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
30.
Mihalic, S., Irwin, K., Fagan, S., Ballard, D., & Elliott, D. (2004). Successful program implementation: Lessons from blueprints. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
31.
Miller, W. B. (1958). Lower-class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency. Journal of Social Issues, 14, 5-19.
32.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course persistent anti-social behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701.
33.
Norusis, M. J. (1999). SPSS9.0Guideto Data Analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
34.
Nye, F. I. (1958). Family relationships and delinquent behavior. New York: Wiley.
35.
Olds, D., Eckenrode, J., Henderson, C. R., Jr., Kitzman, H., Powers, J., Cole, R., et al. (1997). Long-term effects of home visitation on maternal life course and child abuse and neglect: 15-year follow-up of a randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278, 637-643.
36.
Olds, D., Henderson, C. R., Cole, R., Eckenrode, J., Kitzman, H., Luckey, D., et al. (1998). Long-term effects of nurse home visitation on children’s criminal and antisocial behavior: 15-year follow-up of a randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280, 1238-1244.
37.
Paternoster, R., & Brame, R. (1997). Multiple routes to delinquency? A test of developmental and general theories of crime. Criminology, 35, 49-84.
38.
Paternoster, R., Brame, R., Mazerolle, P., & Piquero, A. (1998). Using the correct statistical test for the equality of regression coefficients. Criminology, 36, 859-866.
39.
Piquero, A., & Rosay, A. B. (1998). The reliability and validity of Grasmick et al.’s self-control scale: A comment on Longshore et al. Criminology, 36, 157-173.
40.
Piquero, A., & Tibbetts, S. (1996). Specifying the direct and indirect effects of low self-control and situation factors in offenders’ decision making: Toward a more complete model of rational thinking. Justice Quarterly, 13, 481-510.
41.
Pratt, T. C., & Cullen, F. T. (2000). The empirical status of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime: A meta-analysis. Criminology, 38, 931-964.
42.
Pratt, T. C., Turner, M. G., & Piquero, A. (2004). Parental socialization and community context: A longitudinal analysis of the structural sources of low self-control. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 41, 454-456.
43.
Reckless, W. C. (1961). A new theory of delinquency and crime. Federal Probation, 25, 4-46.
44.
Reiss, A. J. (1951). Delinquency as the failure of personal and social controls. American Sociological Review, 16, 197-207.
45.
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1995). Understanding variability in lives through time: Contributions of life-course criminology. Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention, 4, 143-158.
46.
Turner, M. G., & Piquero, A. R. (2002). The stability of self-control. Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 457-471.
47.
Vazsonyi, A. T., Pickering, L. E., Junger, M., & Hessing, D. (2001). An empirical test of a general theory: A four-nation comparative study of self-control and the prediction of deviance. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 38, 91-131.
48.
Wilson, J. Q., & Herrnstein, R. J. (1985). Crime and human nature. New York: Simon and Schuster.
49.
Winfree, L. T., Jr., & Abadinsky, H. (2003). Understanding crime: Theory and practice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
50.
Wood, P. B., Pfefferbaum, B., & Arneklev, B. J. (1993). Risk-taking and self-control: Social psychological correlates of delinquency. Journal of Criminal Justice, 16, 111-130.
51.
Wright, B. R. E., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1999). Low self-control, social bonds, and crime: Social causation, social selection, or both?Criminology, 37, 479-513.
