Linking Self- and Social Control with Deviance: Illuminating the Structure Underlying a General Theory of Crime and Its Relation to Deviant Activity

• NCJ Number: 148023
• Journal: Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1994) Pages: 41-78
• Author(s): M Polakowski
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 38 pages
• Grant Number(s): 89-IJ-CX-0039
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: NIJ Reprint

Annotation

This research operationalizes and tests Gottfredson and Hirschi's treatment of self-control, particularly focusing on individual level characteristics.

Abstract

Data were collected from the first six waves of the Cambridge Study in Delinquency Development, conducted in Great Britain between 1961 and 1981. The sample included a cohort of 411 males, aged 8 to 9 years in 1961. The results show that a single factor of low self-control, including minor behavioral conduct disorders, provided a better fit to the data than did the constructs of hyperactivity-impulsivity-attention deficit disorder. The operationalization represented here suggests that the characteristic of self-control is comprised of physical and emotional disregard for the rights of others and may result from conditions signifying poor parental practices. The analysis showed that self-control is moderately stable over time and is inversely related to elements of the bond to conventional society. The combination of self-control and the bond elements predicted future convictions of the London cohort as well as major forms of self-reported deviance. 6 tables, 3 figures, 18 notes, and 87 references