NCJ Number
207214
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 20 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2004 Pages: 189-216
Date Published
September 2004
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study examined the measurement of low self-control in a sample of Japanese late adolescents, as well as the applicability of the General Theory of Crime to this population.
Abstract
Previous research has indicated that low self-control is a consistent predictor of criminal behavior in adolescents and adults, as asserted by Gottfredson and Hirschi in their General Theory of Crime (1990). According to these researchers, their General Theory of Crime, and particularly their assertions about the low self-control-deviance relationship, should replicate across cultural and national boundaries. The current study examined the extent to which low self-control was predictive of delinquent behavior in a sample of 335 Japanese late adolescent students as compared with a sample of 1,285 American late adolescent students. Participants in Japan and the United States completed Grasmick et al.’s low self-control measurement instrument and the Normative Deviance Scale (NDS). Results of statistical analyses, including multiple regression analyses, indicated that the low self-control measure was a multi-dimensional indicator of low self-control in both male and female Japanese late adolescents. Low self-control was predictive of delinquent and criminal activities ranging from trivial to severe among the Japanese sample. Comparisons of the Japanese and American samples revealed significant similarities across the two groups, indicating support for the assertion that the General Theory of Crime is replicable across cultural and national boundaries. Future cross-cultural comparative analyses of the General Theory of Crime should include additional etiological factors. Tables, figures, appendix, references