Self-Control in Global Perspective
| Author | Rose Medeiros,Cesar J. Rebellon,Murray A. Straus |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370808090836 |
| Published date | 01 July 2008 |
| Date | 01 July 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Volume 5 (3): 331–362: 1477-3708
DOI: 10.1177/1477370808090836
Copyright © 2008 European Society of
Criminology and SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore
www.sagepublications.com
Self-Control in Global Perspective
An Empirical Assessment of Gottfredson and
Hirschi’s General Theory Within and Across
32 National Settings
Cesar J. Rebellon
University of New Hampshire, USA
Murray A. Straus
University of New Hampshire, USA
Rose Medeiros
UCLA, USA
ABSTRACT
Research concerning Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) General Theory of Crime
has paid inadequate attention to the reliability and validity of self-control
measures in non-Western settings, to the relationship between parenting and
self-control in non-Western settings, and to Gottfredson and Hirschi’s assertion
that macro-level cultural forces have little or no influence on criminal behavior.
The present study addresses each of these issues using a six-item self-control
scale and two separate crime measures among young adult respondents from
32 Western and non-Western settings on all six humanly habitable continents.
Across Western and non-Western settings, results suggest that (1) the six-item
self-control scale demonstrates reliability comparable to that of prior self-control
scales in the existing criminological literature; (2) the scale is associated
significantly with both violence and property crime, and (3) an eight-item
parental neglect scale is associated with self-control in both Western and non-
Western settings. At the same time, HLM (Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear
Modeling) analysis suggests that there exists a macro-level contextual effect,
unanticipated by Gottfredson and Hirschi, of aggregate parental neglect on
individual-level self-control. Results further suggest a robust individual-level
association, also unanticipated by Gottfredson and Hirschi, between personal
and peer crime that tends to remain independent of adjustments for self-control.
KEY WORDS
Cross-Cultural Criminology / Parenting / Self-Control.
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) General Theory of Crime has generated
a great deal of theoretical and empirical attention since its publication.
However, although numerous studies provide support for many of the the-
ory’s primary assertions, such studies tend to employ data that come pri-
marily from the United States. Among those studies that have tested the
theory outside of the United States, most have been conducted in Western
cultures and none has yet to provide a systematic comparison of the the-
ory’s applicability to crime in all six humanly habitable continents. Such
research is needed for two related reasons. First, Gottfredson and Hirschi
argue unequivocally that the same underlying processes serve to control
crime equally across all cultures. Second, they make this claim despite
clear and important differences between Western and non-Western cultures.
Using data from the International Dating Violence Study (IDVS) (Straus
and Members of the International Dating Violence Research Consortium
2004), the present paper (1) examines the reliability and validity of a six-
item self-control measure in 32 national settings from all six humanly hab-
itable continents; (2) examines the relationship between parental neglect
and self-control in the same 32 settings, and (3) uses multi-level modeling
to provide a preliminary examination of the degree to which macro-level,
cultural forces influence criminal behavior and self-control.
The predictions of the General Theory
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) influential theory of crime begins with the
fundamental premise that crime reflects the natural tendency of individuals to
pursue immediate gratification (see also Hirschi 1969). According to this per-
spective, acts of force and fraud are often the most expedient means by which
to achieve immediate material gratification while ‘analogous’ behaviors, such
as promiscuous sex and the use of chemical substances, are often the most
expedient means by which to achieve immediate visceral gratification. Given
their belief that crime reflects the natural pursuit of self-interest, Gottfredson
and Hirschi argue that crime requires no special explanation and that the
major task of criminologists should be seeking the causes of conformity to
laws and norms that limit the immediate pursuit of gratification.
According to Gottfredson and Hirschi, the major source of conform-
ity is an individual trait that they call ‘self-control’. According to these the-
orists, those with low self-control tend to possess a number of relatively
stable constitutional characteristics that prevent them from forgoing the
pleasure of the immediate moment in the interest of long-term benefit.
332 European Journal of Criminology 5(3)
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