Self-Determination, Deviance, and Risk Factors

Abstract

Deviant behaviours are a significant cost to Canadian society and can incur an immeasurable amount of emotional and physical damage every year (Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, 2018; The John Howard Society of Canada, 2018). There have been numerous studies on the role of risk factors in affecting deviant behaviours, however, few of these have examined the influence of self-determination on deviance (Mann et al., 2010; Murray & Farrington, 2010; Zara & Farrington, 2010). This study intends to fill this gap by investigating the interactions between self-determination, gender, risk factors, and deviance. Participants were invited through the University of Saskatchewan’s PAWS and SONA systems to complete an online survey that asked questions relating to gender, self-determination, risk factors, and deviance. A Chi-square Test for Independence was utilized to explore the explicit relationships between the type of self-determination and gender differences. In addition, a two-way MANOVA was used to compare self-determination and gender together in relation to deviance and risk factors. A Chi-square test found that there was not a significant relationship between gender and self-determination while the two-way MANOVA found a significant interaction effect between self-determination, deviance, and risk factors. However, when the interaction was examined further through univariate ANOVAs, no significant differences were found. Future research that examines and expands on the relationship between self-determination, gender, risk factors and antisocial behavior is suggested.