Role Of Low Self-control Research Articles

The Role of Low Self-Control and Risky Lifestyles in Criminal Victimization: A Study of Adolescents in South Korea.

In this study, we examine the links between low self-control, risky lifestyles, and victimization. Specifically, we explore a full mediation model to test whether risky lifestyles (unstructured activity, association with deviant peers, and delinquency) account for the effect of low self-control on victimization. For the current study, we apply structural equation modeling (SEM) to data from 1057 South Korean adolescents. The results indicate that low self-control only has an indirect effect on victimization, primarily through unstructured time and one’s own delinquency. Risky lifestyles were found to fully mediate the influence of low self-control on victimization. The findings demonstrate the utility of the integration of self-control with routine activities and lifestyle theories as a robust framework through which to examine victimization. Specifically, the results suggest that individuals maintaining low levels of self-control self-select into contexts that are conducive to victimization, increasing their attractiveness and suitability as targets for victimization in the absence of capable guardians.

Meta-analytic structural equation modeling testing the rival assumptions of self-control and social bonds theories

Based on self-control and social bonds theories, this meta-analysis tests the links between low self-control, social bonds (academic bonds), and deviant behaviors. To reduce the heterogeneity, we confined ourselves to the academic bonds and excluded social bonds regarding family, religion, work, and peers. This research includes 32 studies (N = 107,046). The results show that the effect of academic bonds on deviant behaviors remains significant and does not disappear when the role of low self-control is controlled (β = −0.15, p < .05). This finding is inconsistent with self-control theory speculated that the strength of social bonds is determined by self-control, more so than bonds having an independent influence on deviant behaviors. We also reveal that self-control directly (β = 0.29, p < .05) and indirectly, via its association with academic bonds (β = 0.05, p < .05), affects deviant behaviors (i.e., the relation between low self-control and deviant behaviors is partially mediated by academic bonds). It verifies that the theoretical knowledge of the links between self-control and social bonds needs to be integrated into one explanatory model. Future meta-analyses should address family, peer, work, religious bonds to provide further insights into the nexus between self-control and social bonds theories.

The Role of Low Self-Control as a Mediator between Trauma and Antisociality/Criminality in Youth.

Trauma exposure and low self-control are robustly associated with youth antisocial/criminal problems, but the interrelation of these constructs is unclear when taking into account both traumatic events and reactions. The objective of the present study is to examine self-control mediation effects related to trauma and juvenile delinquency, conduct disorder, crime seriousness, and aggression outcomes. The sample consisted of N = 388 male youth from Portugal (age, M = 16.01 years, SD = 1.03, age range = 13–18 years). Path analysis procedures revealed that self-control partially mediates the relation between trauma events and the examined outcomes and fully mediates the relation between trauma reactions and the examined outcomes. Research on youth trauma should examine both trauma events and trauma reactions because they have differential effects on low self-control and antisocial/criminal outcomes.

An Empirical Test of the Relationship Between Employee Theft and Low Self-Control

Although Gottfredson and Hirschi (1987, 1990) maintain that low self-control can account for white-collar/corporate offending, there have been few and inconclusive empirical tests in this area. One area of white-collar crime, in particular, which could benefit from an examination of the role of low self-control in predicting offending, is employee theft. Although employee theft is one of the more costly and pervasive crimes impacting the American economy each year, there has been very little research examining the role of individual characteristics and personality traits in predicting this type of deviant behavior. The current research is a preliminary attempt at integrating the two bodies of literature, employee theft and low self-control.