NCJ Number
176735
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 1998 Pages: 107-127
Date Published
1998
Length
21 pages
Annotation
In "A General Theory of Crime" (1990), Gottfredson and Hirschi argue that criminal and analogous behaviors result from a stable individual psychological trait referred to as "low self- control"; the current study tested the proposition that low self-control is a stable characteristic.
Abstract
The study conducted a two-wave panel study that measured the self-reported self-control of 175 college students at two relatively close time points. Subjects read and responded to 24 identical questions designed to measure the six dimensions of low self-control designated by Gottfredson and Hirschi: impulsiveness, preference for simple tasks, a high risk-seeking potential, preference for physical as opposed to mental activities, self-centeredness, and a volatile temper. The first wave of the survey was distributed in the first week of the semester; the second survey, which contained identical items, was conducted at the end of the same semester; the time interval between the first and second waves was approximately 4 months. Respondents at time 2 were not told that they were answering the same time 1 survey. All responses to the 24 items on the scale were fixed on 4-point scales of Likert-type ordinal metrics. Almost all the analyses showed no significant individual change in self-reported self-control as conceptualized by the authors across time; however, given that the measurements used in the test were taken so closely together and that the study did not find correlations as strong as might be expected, at points the strength of the stability is unclear. 5 tables and 50 references