NCJ Number
207354
Journal
Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 41 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2004 Pages: 407-432
Date Published
November 2004
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether low self-control predicted deviance in a sample of 661 African-American Adolescents (55.1 percent female and a mean age of 15.7 years).
Abstract
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) hypothesized that low self-control explains deviance in males, females, different racial and ethnic groups, and cross-nationally; however, empirical investigations to date have focused on Caucasian samples in the United States. For the current study, the sample of African-American juveniles was selected from a rural public school in Alabama that served a generally low-income community. For comparison, similar data were collected from White juveniles who attended a high school in a small city in the same general vicinity as the primary sample. The measured deviance encompassed vandalism, alcohol use, drug use, school misconduct, general deviance, theft, and assault. A scale developed by Grasmick et al. (1993) measured self-control. A series of hierarchical regression analyses was used to analyze any link between low self-control and deviance. Low self-control explained between 8.4 percent and 13 percent of the variance in male deviance and between 4 percent and 8.4 percent of female deviance. Follow-up z-tests by sex showed few difference in the relationships between low self-control and deviance. There was also similarity in the importance of self-control between the racial samples. These findings thus support the cross-cultural validity of Gottfredson's and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime, particularly for males and to a lesser extent for females. 8 tables, 4 notes, and 36 references