A Closer Look at the Relationship Between Low Self-Control and Delinquency

Abstract

We explore how identity processing styles affect the relationship between self-control and delinquency. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) to examine whether the effects of the diffuse-avoidant, normative, and informational identity styles mediate and interact with the relationship between self-control and delinquency. Our results show that self-control is associated with the three identity styles and that identity styles mediate and moderate the effect of self-control on different types of delinquency. Self-control is partially mediated in predicting different types of delinquency and is fully mediated when predicting heavy marijuana use. In addition, interactive effects of identity styles and self-control are observed for drug and alcohol use but not crimes against persons and property.