Something Old, Something New: A Preliminary Investigation of Hirschi’s Redefined Self‐Control

Abstract

Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime has generated an impressive array of theoretical and empirical research. One particular area of research has concerned the definition and operationalization of self-control. Recently, Hirschi has redefined self-control as the tendency to consider the full range of potential costs of a particular act, and suggests that such inhibiting factors vary in both number and salience in how they relate to criminal activity. This study reports the results of an original data collection effort designed to measure Hirschi's redefined and reconceptualized self-control concept and compares its predictive ability to the most commonly used attitudinal measure of selfcontrol. Results suggest that Hirschi's redefined self-control concept, and our measurement of it, is significantly and negatively associated with two types of criminal acts, and it eliminates the direct effect of a commonly used attitudinal measure of self-control. As a point of theoretical extension, we offer that selfcontrol should be considered in a situational manner. Future theoretical and empirical directions are outlined.

Support for Balanced Juvenile Justice: Assessing Views About Youth, Rehabilitation, and Punishment

“…In the criminological literature, college samples are commonly used to test theory (see, e.g., Mancini et al 2012;Nagin and Paternoster 1994;Pogarsky and Piquero 2003;Stets and Carter 2012;Wu et al 2011) and to evaluate sources of public views about juvenile justice (see, e.g., Edens et al 2003;Falco and Martin 2012;O'Connor et al 2011). A central reason is that students constitute a diverse population and their opinions, at least in the context of criminal justice, have been found to accord with those of the general public (Wiecko 2010; see also Piquero and Bouffard 2007). For the present study, an added benefit was the opportunity to increase the likelihood of full, or near full, participation in the study.…”

A Culturally Nuanced Test of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s ‘‘General Theory’’: Dimensionality and Generalizability in Japan and the United States

“…However, the inclusion of only college students was a constant across the two samples. Third, Hirschi and Gottfredson (2000) claim that any type of sample including students can be used to empirically assess issues that pertain to self-control theory (see also Piquero & Bouffard, 2007). 3.…”

“…In American criminology, research on self-control and deviance consistently reveals that individuals with lower self-control are more likely to participate in a variety of deviant behaviors (see Piquero & Bouffard, 2007, for a review). According to Pratt and Cullen (2000), ''this effect size would rank self-control as one of the strongest known correlates of crime.…”

The Role of Self-Control in College Student’s Perceived Risk and Fear of Online Victimization

“…His use of nine items that reflect social bonds is consistent with his view that self-control and social control are one in the same. Piquero and Bouffard (2007) used data from college students to examine the reconceputalization of self-control. They interpreted Hirschi (2004) to be more from the rational choice tradition rather than the social bonding tradition.…”