Moral Rules, Self-Control, and School Context: Additional Evidence on Situational Action Theory from 28 Countries

Contextual research on adolescent offending is primarily based on the idea that residential areas provide a major ecological setting that (indirectly) shapes observed differences in adolescent offending. The social disorganisation/collective efficacy perspective has tried to explain why structural disadvantage of residential areas affects residents' involvement in offending. On the other hand, contextual research has also been conducted within the school setting. This separate contextual approach is problematic as it does not reflect the reality of adolescents' lives. Adolescents are exposed to different ecological settings. They are also exposed to many other settings that may provide opportunities to offend, as outlined in the situational action theory (SAT) of crime causation. This study contributes to the literature on the urban context of offending in three ways. First, the effects of adolescents' residential neighbourhood and school context on adolescent offending are assessed simultaneously. Second, this study elaborates on SAT from a cross-level point of view. Third, this contribution makes use of non-hierarchical multilevel modelling, which is a statistically correct method of testing hypotheses that involve multiple contexts. Our study revealed the existence of small contextual effects of school-level disadvantage, whereas the effect of neighbourhood-level disadvantage is entirely due to neighbourhood composition.

Download Full-text

Situational Action Theory and School Bullying: Rethinking the Moral Filter

Crime & Delinquency ◽

10.1177/0011128720974318 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 001112872097431

Author(s):

Weidi Liu ◽

Geping Qiu ◽

Sheldon Zhang

Keyword(s):

Action Theory ◽

School Bullying ◽

Self Control ◽

Future Research ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Moral Exclusion ◽

Conditional Effects ◽

Personal Morality ◽

Situational Action Theory ◽

Different Levels

Utilizing a sample from Chinese schools, we test the key ingredients of Situational Action Theory within the context of school bullying in a non-Western culture. The results show that morality has a robust effect on bullying behaviors, whereas control mechanisms (i.e., self-control and deterrence) have little restraining effect when personal morality is low. Our findings, together with prior mixed findings regarding conditional effects of control mechanisms, suggest that the moral filter may work differently for behaviors associated with different levels of stigmatization. We speculate that, for less stigmatized behaviors, “habitualization” easily materialize but “moral exclusion” does not, and thus controls exert stronger impact when morality is higher. Implications for the theory and directions for future research are discussed.

Download Full-text

Explaining Chinese Delinquency: Self-Control, Morality, and Criminogenic Exposure

Criminal Justice and Behavior ◽

10.1177/00938548211034840 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 009385482110348

Author(s):

Yuning Wu ◽

Xiaojin Chen ◽

Jia Qu

Keyword(s):

Middle School Students ◽

Chinese Population ◽

Action Theory ◽

Situational Factors ◽

Self Control ◽

School Students ◽

Promoting Effect ◽

Situational Action Theory ◽

Delinquent Peers ◽

Large Representative

This study extends the testing of situational action theory (SAT) to a Chinese population, and sheds new light on the directions of the moderation relationships between self-control and morality, and between crime propensity and criminogenic exposure on delinquency. Relying on a large, representative sample of middle school students from two areas of Guizhou, China ( N = 2,498), we find that both self-control and morality have significant inhibiting effects on delinquency. Moreover, self-control has a more profound curbing effect on delinquency among adolescents with higher levels of morality. Meanwhile, the promoting effect of crime propensity on delinquency decreases when levels of risky exposure increase. When adolescents have more unsupervised activities and delinquent peers, their crime propensity affects delinquency to a lesser extent. Our study confirms that individual and situational factors interlock in determining delinquency, and reiterates the value of empirical testing across cultures to validate and possibly improve general theories of crime.

Download Full-text

Conditional relevance of controls: A simultaneous test of the influences of self-control and deterrence on criminal behaviour in the context of Situational Action Theory

European Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1177/1477370817732191 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 77-92 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Debbie Schepers ◽

Jost Reinecke

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation ◽

Action Theory ◽

Explanatory Power ◽

Self Control ◽

Multiple Group ◽

Simultaneous Test ◽

Personal Morality ◽

Situational Action Theory ◽

German Cities ◽

Conditional Relevance

Situational Action Theory includes a series of propositions on the interaction between the moral filter and internal and external controls. These reflections are condensed into the principle of the conditional relevance of controls and the principle of moral correspondence. In this study, the interplay of controls and moral forces is tested within the framework of structural equation modelling. Survey data from two cohorts of students in the German cities of Dortmund (North-Rhine Westphalia) and Nuremberg (Bavaria) serve as the empirical base. By using multiple group comparisons, the influences of self-control and deterrence on self-reported delinquency are examined simultaneously for four different subgroups of respondents formed on the basis of their levels of crime propensity and criminogenic exposure. The analyses provide support for a conditional relevance of controls, but produce only mixed evidence for the principle of moral correspondence. Controls are more important when the moral filter is weak, but fail to lose their explanatory power among adolescents characterized by both high propensity and strong exposure. Our findings furthermore suggest that self-control appears to matter particularly when the moral context encourages crime and deterrence seems to be influential especially when personal morality encourages crime.

Download Full-text

Revisiting the role of self-control in Situational Action Theory

European Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1177/1477370817732189 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 56-76 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Clemens Kroneberg ◽

Sonja Schulz

Keyword(s):

Action Theory ◽

Panel Study ◽

Self Control ◽

Comprehensive Account ◽

Theory Of Crime ◽

Rule Breaking ◽

Situational Action Theory ◽

Crime And Delinquency ◽

Crime Causation

Wikström’s Situational Action Theory of Crime Causation (SAT) aims at providing a comprehensive account of the action-generating mechanisms that underlie rule-breaking. Paying tribute to the longstanding criminological interest in self-control, SAT also entails a new view of this concept and its role in crime causation. SAT claims that morality is the more fundamental determinant of rule-breaking and that self-control should become relevant only when actors enter a process of deliberation on whether or not to break a rule. Our contribution is twofold: theoretically, we discuss the role of self-control in SAT and derive previously untested implications; empirically, we evaluate these implications based on data from a large German panel study and thereby advance our understanding of when and how self-control matters for crime and delinquency.

Download Full-text

Motivations, Propensities, and Their Interplays on Online Bullying Perpetration: A Partial Test of Situational Action Theory

Crime & Delinquency ◽

10.1177/0011128719850500 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 66 (12) ◽

pp. 1787-1808 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Hyojong Song ◽

Seong-Sik Lee

Keyword(s):

Significant Interaction ◽

Action Theory ◽

Self Control ◽

Online Bullying ◽

Future Studies ◽

Bullying Perpetration ◽

Different Types ◽

Online Setting ◽

Situational Action Theory ◽

Using Data

Using data gathered from 757 college students in South Korea, the current study examines applicability of situational action theory (SAT) to online bullying perpetration (OBP). Specifically, the current study focuses on testing interplays between motivations in the criminogenic online setting (temptation and provocation) and individual propensities (morality and self-control) as well as interplay between two individual propensities on OBP. Results show that morality significantly buffers the effects of provocation on OBP as expected, while morality unexpectedly enhances effects of temptation on OBP. Moreover, the current study found no significant interaction between two propensities, morality and self-control. Thus, future studies should focus on examining how roles of morality vary depending on different types of offenses and contexts.

Download Full-text

The association between child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency in the context of Situational Action Theory: Crime propensity and criminogenic exposure as mediators in a sample of European youth?

European Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1177/14773708211013300 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 147737082110133

Author(s):

Eline HJ Doelman ◽

Maartje PCM Luijk ◽

Ineke Haen Marshall ◽

Joran Jongerling ◽

Dirk Enzmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Juvenile Delinquency ◽

Child Maltreatment ◽

Action Theory ◽

Self Control ◽

Self Report ◽

Third Wave ◽

Violent Offending ◽

Final Sample ◽

Situational Action Theory ◽

European Youth

The current study investigates the association between physical child maltreatment and juvenile delinquent behavior in the context of the Situational Action Theory (SAT) (Wikström, 2006, 2017, 2020). Self-control, morality and exposure to criminogenic settings are proposed as possible mechanisms explaining the association between physical child maltreatment and adolescent offending. The hypotheses are tested in a subsample of the third wave of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD3), a large international non-clinical study on delinquency and victimization among adolescents. The final sample consists of N = 24,956 adolescents aged 12–16 years from nine West European countries. While controlling for dependence due to nested data and several covariates, the models are tested for overall offending and separately for violent and property offending. Results confirm that physical child maltreatment is associated with the main concepts of SAT (lower self-control; lower morality; and more exposure to criminogenic environments), which in turn are associated with juvenile delinquency. The models show partial mediation for overall offending, property offending and violent offending. The findings provide support for the theoretical prowess of SAT and its main concepts: self-control, morality and exposure to criminogenic settings as mediators in the well-established physical child maltreatment/delinquency link. These findings are consistent with the ‘cycle of violence’ perspective and contribute to the theoretical clarification of the mechanisms involved in the child maltreatment/delinquency link. The findings fail to confirm a ‘crime-specific propensity’. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for prevention.

Download Full-text

Does Moral Identity Matter in Situational Action Theory? Some Evidence of Iranian Fans’ Cyberbullying Perpetration

International Criminal Justice Review ◽

10.1177/1057567720941584 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 406-420

Author(s):

Saeed Kabiri ◽

Seyyedeh Masoomeh (Shamila) Shadmanfaat ◽

Kanika Samuels-Wortley ◽

Owen Gallupe

Keyword(s):

Moral Identity ◽

Action Theory ◽

Property Crime ◽

Moral Emotions ◽

Self Control ◽

Central Position ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Situational Action Theory ◽

Soccer Fans

Situational action theory (SAT) posits that morality plays a core role in determining whether situations are viewed as suitable for crime. However, little attention has been paid to moral identity, the degree to which a person considers morality to occupy a central position in their view of themselves. Using a convenience sample of Iranian soccer fans ( N = 374), we test both the direct and moderated role of moral identity in explaining cyberbullying, an outcome that differs from most SAT research focusing on violent/property crime. We find that fans with a weaker moral identity tend to engage in more cyberbullying and that moral identity significantly interacts with a number of SAT-derived predictors (moral emotions, self-control, perceptual deterrence, and situational morality) in expected ways.

Download Full-text