Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Can self-control change substantially over time?: Rethinking the nature and role of self-control in Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Na_umd_0117E_12353.pdf (871.8Kb)
    No. of downloads: 378

    Date
    2011
    Author
    Na, Chong Min
    Advisor
    Paternoster, Raymond
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    The primary goal of this study is to verify if the changing level of structural and situational `sensitivity' to costs and benefits associated with deviant behaviors (e.g., Hirschi (2004) and Gottfredson (2006)'s redefined self-control, Tittle, Ward, and Grasmick's (2004) "desire to exercise self-control," Wikström and Treiber's (2007) "situationally-based" self-control) is associated with the changing level of more general `ability' to measure costs and benefits within individuals (e.g., Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) trait-like self-control, Tittle, Ward, and Grasmick's (2004) "capacity for self-control," Wikström and Treiber's (2007) "executive capability"). More importantly, to better disentangle the causal mechanisms underlying stability and change in offending behaviors over time, This study examines how low self-control as one of the constituent elements of offending propensity changes over time in the general population and across different study groups using both a hierarchical linear model (HLM) and a second-order latent growth model (LGM). Then, structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to examine the on-going processes of cumulative advantage and disadvantage by more explicitly testing the bidirectional relationship of key theoretical constructs (e.g., self-control vs. social control/bond) over time. In contrast to the Gottfredson and Hirschi's prediction, this study found meaningful differences in the growth pattern of self-control among individuals in the population in general and especially across different study groups. Interestingly, the changing level of social control/bond triggered by experimental conditions accounted for the between-group difference observed. The same pattern persists when different analytic techniques and model specifications are applied to test the same research hypotheses, which suggests that the results are not an artifact of measurement error, model specification, or statistical methods. Most of all, this study was able to better disentangle the `long-term' relationship between self- and social control variables, which is found to be more dynamic and bidirectional than previously hypothesized.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/11800
    Collections
    • Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility