Gender, Self-Control, and Offending Behaviors Among Latino Youth

Abstract

Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), the current study investigates the empirical validity of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s propositions linking gender, self-control, and offending behaviors across a large and diverse sample of Latino youth. According to their theory, differences in self-control- that are influenced by differences in parenting practices—should account for differential offending across race/ethnicity and gender. Consistent with their theory, results found males to have lower self-control and greater involvement in self-reported violent and property offending compared to females. Furthermore, Latino youth with lower self-control were more likely to report violent and property offending; however, the gender gap observed for property and violent offending was not accounted for by low self-control or parenting. In fact, none of the parenting measures (warmth, hostility, monitoring) differed for males and females and they were not found to influence involvement in offending for males or females. Low self-control predicted violent offending for males and females separately, but it predicted property offending only for males. In addition to mentioning limitations and future research, findings are discussed as they relate to theory and prior research on self-control.