NCJ Number
185109
Journal
Criminology Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2000 Pages: 971-982
Date Published
August 2000
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article, a reading of Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory, reviews the association among self-control, crime, and analogous behaviors.
Abstract
The article hypothesizes that self-control should explain any association between involvement in criminal activity and involvement in analogous behaviors. The association between criminal activity and analogous behaviors persisted even after conditioning on a measure of self-control. The article claims that that qualified conclusion constitutes negative evidence for Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory. The article reexamines the analytic framework used in the earlier study. The paper emphasizes three major issues: (1) This measurement of concepts from Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory is reasonably consistent with that of other literature in this area as well as the theory; (2) Their theory predicts that the association will vanish when conditioned on individual self-control; and (3) It is likely that other variables in addition to self-control will be necessary to explain the association. Notes, references