NCJ Number
179922
Journal
Criminology Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: November 1999 Pages: 815-842
Date Published
1999
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study reanalyzed data from Hirschi's Richmond Youth Project (1969) to address problems raised in Matsueda's use of this data (1982) to test control theory against differential association theory and to test a new method of measuring the social bond.
Abstract
Matsueda's research revealed that measures of definitions favorable to law violation entirely mediated the effect of the social control measures and friends' delinquency. Therefore, Matsueda concluded that these findings supported differential association theory over control theory. However, Matsueda's social control model did not provide a complete test of the theory due to the omission of several of the theory's crucial constructs from the analyses. Misplacement of several concepts in the causal change also resulted in a misspecified control theory model. The present research used a new method of measuring the social bond by conceptualizing the social bond as a second-order latent construct. Results contrasted with Matsueda's findings in that the social bond and friends' delinquency retained important directs on delinquency; definitions had a weaker effect on delinquency than did either of the other two constructs. Therefore, findings were more supportive of control theory than of differential association theory; the strength of the individual's bond to parents and peers, in combination with the individual's commitment to conventional goals, had the strongest influence on delinquency in the test of multiple factor theory. Additional theoretical development and careful model specification that closely corresponds with existing theoretical statements is recommended to help resolve the continued debate between control and cultural deviance theories. Tables, figures, footnotes, and 45 references (Author abstract modified)