Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime has been widely tested. Yet one of their key hypotheses—the stability of self-control—has received little attention from researchers, and no known study has examined the applicability of the stability hypothesis in a non-Western context. Given Gottfredson and Hirschi’s claim that their low self-control theory transcends cultural and national boundaries, we tested the hypothesis with a nationally representative sample of South Korean adolescents using 5-year panel data. Consistent with studies conducted in the United States, our results offer partial support for Gottfredson and Hirschi’s stability hypothesis. We also provide comparative interpretations of our findings in the South Korean context.
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