Development of Self-Control: Examining Self-Control Theory's Stability Thesis

• NCJ Number: 216606
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 44 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2006 Pages: 739-774
• Author(s): Carter Hay; Walter Forrest
• Date Published: November 2006
• Length: 36 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the stability thesis embedded within self-control theory that states that self-control is developed early in childhood and remains relatively stable over time.

Abstract

Main results revealed that 84 percent of the sample experienced strong absolute and relative stability in their levels of self-control. This stability in self-control emerged as early as 7 years of age. This finding is consistent with the stability thesis embedded within the self-control theory of criminal behavior. However, in contradiction to the stability thesis, another 16 percent of the sample exhibited significant absolute and relative changes in self-control over time, even after 10 years of age. In addition, parental socialization continued to influence the self-control of the youth even into adolescence. Taken as a whole, the findings undermine the stability thesis because 16 percent of youth did not exhibit stability in self-control over time. The authors caution against ignoring the changes in self-control exhibited by 16 percent of the sample and note that the findings indicated that once self-control was gained, changes that occurred in adolescence might decrease self-control. The findings have implications for criminological theory because they call into question a trait-based conception of self-control. Self-control may best be understood, at least in part, as a skill that may be learned or forgotten. Data were drawn from the 1979 Child and Young Adult Supplement of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth. The analysis focused on measures of self-control and parental socialization in children during a 9-year period that ranged from roughly 7 years of age to 15 years of age. This 9-year period includes the age of 10, which self-control theory states as the age that self-control should be fixed. Data were analyzed using a multinomial modeling approach that analyzed the developmental trajectory of each individual. Researchers should continue to investigate the ways in which self-control emerges and develops over time. Footnotes, figures, tables, references, appendixes