Parenting and Stability of Self-Control

Abstract

The present study examined the stability of self-control and the relationship of parenting and self-control based on Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime. By using a four-wave longitudinal data coming from the D.C Family Strengthening Project, this paper adopts the appropriate statistical tool for latent variables (Mplus) to explore the rank stability of self-control among a minority dominated sample aged from 9 to 11. This study also does an exploratory test of the source of self-control. The causal impact of parenting factors such as supervision, discipline, and caring on self-control are tested by using a sample of children aged from 7 to 8. The results show that relative stability of observed self-control is moderate, while it becomes high when measurement errors are controlled. Also discipline and monitoring is the most important parenting variable to increase self-control level of children during their early ages.