A Multi-Informant Study of the Role of Household Disorder in Low Self-Control

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (12) ◽  
pp. 1977-1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan B. Jackson ◽  
Michael G. Vaughn

The current study expands upon Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) General Theory of Crime by examining associations between multiple forms of household disorder and low self-control, as well as the potential for attenuated informal social controls within the home to account for these associations. Multi-informant data from the Fragile Families & Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) are employed in the present study. Multiple regression-based techniques (e.g., negative binomial regression, logistic regression) are executed in a stepwise fashion to address our research questions. The findings indicate that one form of household disorder in particular, Household Health/Safety Hazards, yielded significant associations with low self-control across multiple model specifications. Informal social control exerted by parents within the home did not appear to explain this relationship. Future research should consider the possibility that certain forms of disorder in the immediate ecological context of the home may attenuate self-control and should explore other potential explanations of the findings.

2021 ◽  
pp. 026839622110278
Author(s):  
Sixuan Zhang ◽  
Dorothy Leidner ◽  
Xin Cao ◽  
Ning Liu

Extant research on the antecedents of workplace cyberbullying pays little attention to the role of perpetrator traits in influencing workplace cyberbullying, as well as the unique occurrence context that distinguishes workplace cyberbullying with juvenile cyberbullying, workplace bullying, and adult cyberbullying in general. To fill these gaps, we consider the antecedents of workplace cyberbullying under the theoretical lens of the general theory of crime and routine activities theory. We build a model incorporating low self-control, a widely discussed perpetrator trait in criminology theories, with three types of routine activities representing the unique occurrence context for workplace cyberbullying--mWork, boundary spanning in ESM, and proactive email checking. We tested our model with 2025 employees in the U.S.. Our findings demonstrate that low self-control and the three routine activities are strong motivators for workplace cyberbullying. Our findings further show that the effect of low self-control on workplace cyberbullying is amplified by the three routine activities. The study contributes to our understanding of why workplace cyberbullying occurs and offers potential implications for managers interested in reducing incidences of workplace cyberbullying in their organization.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-447
Author(s):  
Saeed Kabiri ◽  
Seyyedeh Masoomeh (Shamila) Shadmanfaat ◽  
Christopher M. Donner

The prevalence of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use at different levels of professional sport has become an important social issue, particularly when considering recent high-profile incidents from professional sports and the Olympics. Due to the myriad of individual, team, and sociopolitical consequences that can stem from PED use, it becomes critical to study the etiology of PED involvement among athletes regarding this deviant behavior. Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime is one such theory that may aid in explaining this phenomenon. As such, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between effective parenting, self-control, and athletes’ use of banned PEDs. Survey data from 784 professional athletes in Iran were collected, and the findings indicated that ineffective parenting, low self-control capacity, and self-control desire had significant effects on PED use. In addition, moderation effects and gender analyses were examined. Specific findings, policy implications, and study limitations are discussed.


2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 671-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance L. Chapple ◽  
Trina L. Hope

How versatile are gang and dating violence offenders? Current gang research highlights the versatility of gang members, yet the versatility of intimate violence offenders is often unexamined. Gottfredson and Hirschi,A General Theory of Crime(1990), support the idea of versatile rather than specialized offenders and suggests that low self-control is associated with a host of criminal and noncriminal risk-taking activities. Using data from a self-report sample of 1139 youths in grades 9 through 11, we investigated both the versatility of gang and dating violence offenders and theoretical variables associated with each. We find disproportionate offending by dating and gang violence offenders in a variety of crimes, as well as considerable overlap in the independent variables associated with both types of violence. Low levels of self-control and exposure to general and crime-specific criminal opportunities are significantly associated with engaging in dating and gang violence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damon M. Petrich ◽  
Christopher J. Sullivan

Researchers have recently begun to examine motivational factors as moderators of the relationship between self-control and offending behavior. The current study extends prior work by investigating whether three aspects of future orientation (aspirations, expectations, and the use of future-oriented cognitive and behavioral strategies) play such a role. Drawing on 7 years of data from the Pathways to Desistance study ( N = 1,333), we use hybrid effects negative binomial regression models to assess how within-individual changes in future orientation and impulse control are independently and jointly related to the offending variety of serious young offenders. Although impulse control and three components of future orientation had significant main effects on offending, no interaction between these components emerged in our results. Implications for future research are discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 3058-3076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa R. Muftić ◽  
Alexander H. Updegrove

This study aims to clarify the relationships between parenting techniques, low self-control, and juvenile delinquency in Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime while controlling for alternative explanations of delinquency. We relied on a sample of 35,511 adolescent students from 31 countries from the International Self-Report Delinquency 2 Study. Results indicate that parenting exhibits a direct effect on adolescents’ violence perpetration and property offending, and that while self-control weakens the strength of this relationship, it fails to fully mediate it. Males reported lower levels of self-control, exposure to poorer parenting techniques, and higher rates of violence perpetration and property offending. The relationship between parenting, self-control, and juvenile delinquency was similar for females and males. These results provide evidence that parenting has important implications for adolescents’ involvement in delinquency above and beyond its influence on their level of self-control.


2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 772-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaeyong Choi ◽  
Nathan E. Kruis

In 2005, Robert Agnew published his book Why Criminals Offend in which he synthesized an array of theoretical predictors of crime and delinquency into a parsimonious integrated general theory. He argued that delinquency is influenced by mechanisms found in five distinct life domains: self, family, peer, school, and work. Using longitudinal data from South Korea, the current research tested the generalizability of Agnew’s theory by applying it to bullying and cyberbullying. Results from a negative binomial regression model provided mixed support for Agnew’s theory as a general theory of crime. The significant effects of life domains were found to differ across types of bullying.


2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 674-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Lianos ◽  
Andrew McGrath

Cyberbullying is an increasingly common characteristic of contemporary online communication. The current study surveyed 320 Internet-active young adults and found up to 80% reported engaging in this behavior at least once. In addition, the ability of the general theory of crime and general strain theory to explain cyberbullying perpetration was tested. Evidence for both theories was observed, with both low self-control and higher levels of strain related to cyberbullying perpetration. Furthermore, opportunity (operationalized as moderate and high number of hours online) interacted with low self-control to increase perpetration, and anger partially mediated the relationship between strain and cyberbullying. Implications of the findings are discussed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 001112872097873
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Holt ◽  
Jesse Cale ◽  
Russell Brewer ◽  
Andrew Goldsmith

Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime argues individuals with low self-control are more likely to engage in crime on and off-line. There is less research considering the role of opportunity, as low self-control should increase individuals’ willingness to act on opportunities to offend. The importance of opportunity is distinct for cybercrime, as technology access may be differentially impacted by various demographic factors. This study surveyed 1,411 South Australian adolescents enrolled at secondary schools across a large metropolitan region to examine the relationships between opportunity and self-control for four forms of computer hacking. A series of binary logistic regression models illustrated that distinct opportunity factors and low self-control are associated with each form of hacking.


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