NCJ Number
175733
Journal
Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: 1997 Pages: 224-244
Date Published
1997
Length
21 pages
Annotation
A battery of 11 items that covered various aspects of parents' supervision (as perceived by the child) were constructed and administered in a study of approximately 500 pupils in the eighth grade.
Abstract
Since Hirschi's formulation of control theory, this theoretical perspective has grown into an integrative control theory. In addition to bonding, Gottfredson and Hirschi include self-control as a pivotal notion, and situation and direct control are used as an intervening construct between bonding and self-control, on the one hand, and crime and analogous forms of deviance on the other hand. Tests of control theories are most often conducted with representative samples of adolescents. The current study's verification of an integrative control theory with adjudicated boys shows that seven constructs were powerful explanations of self-reported general and serious delinquency, as well as problem behaviors. In addition, a sociopsychological integrative control theory was found to be much more powerful than a sociological control theory. Furthermore, social control constructs dominated the explanation of the self-reported deviance of the adjudicated boys; however, the relative importance of these constructs varied according to the nature of deviance. Finally, the socialization or social control mechanism clearly outweighed the individual control or propensity mechanism, because of its correlation with the three dependent variables. These results revive the debate between the learning and the propensity theorists. 1 figure, 3 tables, and 73 references