NCJ Number
212373
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2005 Pages: 419-437
Date Published
December 2005
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study explored relationships between self-control, social bonds, deviant peer association, and juvenile delinquency.
Abstract
Within the criminological literature there are two competing theories of juvenile delinquency, which were ironically authored by the same researcher years apart. According to Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime, criminal behavior is the result of low self-control. However, in 1969 Hirschi espoused a criminological theory that held that crime is the result of weak social bonds with conventional peers and activities. This article attempts to integrate these theories by testing whether social bonds mediate the relationship between self-control and juvenile offending. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of 359 adolescent offenders, collected between 1991 and 1995, which included measures of low self-control, attachment, beliefs, community involvement, deviant peers, prior offending, and follow-up offending. Results of statistical analyses indicated that low self-control indirectly led to juvenile offending through a negative effect on attachment and conventional moral beliefs. The findings are consistent with the proposed integrated theory that combines a control perspective with a social bonding perspective. Future research should attempt to replicate these findings with other delinquent samples as well as with the general juvenile population. Tables, figure, references