Parenting, Self-Control, and Delinquency: A Test of Self-Control Theory

• NCJ Number: 189947
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 39 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2001 Pages: 707-736
• Author(s): Carter Hay
• Date Published: August 2001
• Length: 30 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using data collected from a sample of urban high school students, this study tested arguments about the effects of parenting on self-control and delinquency by examining two parenting-related hypotheses derived from the theory.

Abstract

The first hypothesis is that the variables that comprise Gottfredson and Hirschi's notion of effective parenting (monitoring, recognition of deviance, and willingness to discipline deviance) should be negatively related to low self-control. Moreover, because these three factors are viewed as the major cause of low self-control, other variables should not contribute much to the explanation of low self-control. The second hypothesis is that the impact of effective parenting on delinquency should be mediated by low self-control. A comparative test of this second hypothesis is beyond the scope of this report, in large part because variables from alternative theories cannot be operationalized well with these data. Data used to examine these hypotheses came from anonymous, self-administered questionnaires completed by a sample of 197 adolescents taken from an urban area in a southwestern State of the United States. All students enrolled in physical education classes during the fall of 1998 were invited to participate in the study. The questionnaire included items on parental monitoring and discipline. Parents' level of monitoring was measured with four items asked separately for mothers and fathers. Parental willingness to discipline deviance was measured with a four-item scale that consisted of two items asked separately for mothers and fathers. A modified version of the self-control scale created by Gransmick et al. was used in the study. The delinquency variables were based on measures of projected delinquency rather than of self-reported past delinquency. Results generally support self-control theory's two hypotheses, but also point to empirical limitations of the theory. Although meta-analyses are needed, self-control theory does not appear to have greater explanatory power than do other prominent theories of crime, including social learning theory, social control theory, and general strain theory. 4 tables and 68 references