NCJ Number
223427
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice: An International Journal Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2008 Pages: 244-251
Date Published
July 2008
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined socialization factors contributing to self-control.
Abstract
The study found that partial support could be offered for “self-control theory.” In implicit support of the theory, this study found that the effect of parenting on self-control was not conditioned by the competing social factors examined. Contrary to the theory, however, was the finding that self-control was predicted by both peer pressure and school social factors contemporaneously, even after controlling for parental monitoring. While prior research testing Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) theory of low self-control has demonstrated a significant relationship between parenting and self-control, it has also recognized significant effects of other social factors, suggesting the etiology of self-control may be more complex than the theory specifies. The current study examined first whether social factors other than parenting predicted self-control using both contemporaneous and lagged effects models, and second, whether the effect of parenting on self-control varied according to these social factors. Data for this study came from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY79) Mother Data and the Child and Young Adult Supplement to the NLSY79. The NLSY is a nationally representative sample of 12,686 young men and women who were 14 to 22 years old when they were first surveyed in 1979; this study used data from the 2000 and 2002 surveys. Tables, appendix, notes, and references