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Self-Control Theory: Research Issues

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Handbook on Crime and Deviance

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

In the annals of criminological thought, there have been a handful of theories that have been proffered that have altered and shaped the theoretical imagination of criminologists. The most recent of these theories is Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime. Their theory places particular importance on the personal, individual characteristic of (low) self-control, or the tendency to pursue immediate gratification at the expense of consideration for long-term consequences. To Gottfredson and Hirschi, the higher order construct of self-control is comprised of six characteristics, all of which coalesce within the individual with (low) self-control: impulsivity, preference for simple tasks, risk seeking, preference for physical as opposed to mental activities, self-centeredness, and a quick or volatile temper. When (low) self-control combines with the ready stock of available opportunities for crime, the general theory of crime anticipates that the probability of all types of antisocial and criminal activity will increase in a generally linear fashion, and this interaction should be a principal ingredient of crime over and above most other traditional correlates of crime, which the theorists claim are simply manifestations or selection effects associated with self-control.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To be sure, Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime does allow for social control (and bonds in particular) to be important within the general theory of crime, but only insofar as social control influences self-control prior to ages 8/10; thereafter, social control is deemed to be largely irrelevant in influencing both self-control and criminal activity.

  2. 2.

    To be sure, several commentators (Akers, 1991) criticize Gottfredson and Hirschi’s insistence on the use of behavioral measures of self-control, primarily because of the notion that deviant behavior is used, in effect, to predict deviant behavior, and thus any such relationship is not surprising because the two measures are of the same underlying construct. This continues to be a source of contention in the literature, as critics, such as Akers, continue to believe that the use of deviant behavior to predict deviant behavior is tautological, while Gottfredson and Hirschi remain steadfast in their position that it is not.

  3. 3.

    To be sure, there are some accounts of limited specialization among certain types of offenders and/or among offenders within a narrow range of offense types (Steffensmeier & Ulmer, 2005), but this is generally the exception and not the rule.

  4. 4.

    Specifically, participants were presented with seven blank lines for which they were asked to develop a list of up to seven “bad things” (costs) that might occur if they engaged in the offending behavior depicted in each scenario, a method which follows Hirschi’s suggestion that the number of consequences to which an individual attends when making decisions to offend is related to that individual’s self-control. Also, because Hirschi suggests that self-control is also a function of the salience of the consequences that the individual considers, individuals were asked to provide data on the salience of potential inhibiting factors associated with criminal activity. After the listing of any relevant costs, participants were asked to indicate “How important each one of these things would be when making your decision whether or not to (offense behavior) under the circumstances in the story.” These items were rated using a similar 0% (Not Important) to 100% (Very Important) scale. Given Hirschi’s statements about the relevance of both the number of costs attended to and their salience, the redefined self-control measure took the number of costs generated by the respondents and multiplied them by the average salience applied to these groups of costs (i.e., all costs) by the participants, thereby providing a measure that focuses on the inhibiting/costs factors (i.e., where higher scores are indicative of higher self-control) that can be quite broad (depending on the respondent’s nomination) and is contemporaneous because the data are obtained immediately after the individual is asked to rate their likelihood of engaging in the hypothetical criminal act.

  5. 5.

    It is important to note here the distinction between corporate and white-collar crime. Gottfredson and Hirschi do indeed deal with white-collar crime, but their conceptualization of white-collar crime is one that is reliant on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting definition, i.e., fraud, embezzlement, forgery, etc. And while they have dealt with white-collar crime specifically in their own research, specialist researchers in the white-collar crime area have criticized the theorists for their misunderstanding and misapplication of the term. To be sure, there is a wide array of crime types under the white-collar and especially corporate umbrella including price fixing, environmental pollution, collusion, etc., and this line of research indicates that not only do these crime types exert a significant toll on victims and society, but their causes do not appear consistent with those found in the general theory.

  6. 6.

    Certainly not low self-control.

  7. 7.

    In a study that has not drawn much attention, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1995) do indicate that aside from strengthening parental socialization efforts in the first few years of life (which is the most direct and relevant aspect of their theory that allows for modifications of self-control), one public policy effort that can aid in crime prevention would focus on preventing teenage pregnancy, i.e., increasing condom use. The argument here is that increased condom use is likely to lead to fewer teenage pregnancies, which in turn will lead to fewer teenage parents who are ill-equipped to be effective socializing agents of their children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, USA

    Alex R. Piquero

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  1. Alex R. Piquero
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, Washington Ave. 1400, Albany, 12222, USA

    Marvin D. Krohn

  2. School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, Washington Ave. 1400, Albany, 12222, U.S.A.

    Alan J. Lizotte

  3. School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, Washington Ave. 1400, Albany, 12222, U.S.A.

    Gina Penly Hall

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Piquero, A.R. (2009). Self-Control Theory: Research Issues. In: Krohn, M., Lizotte, A., Hall, G. (eds) Handbook on Crime and Deviance. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0245-0_8

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