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While the link between low self-control and several behavioral and social problems is widely supported, debate remains regarding the stability of and the genetic and environmental sources of variation in self-control. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class 1998-1999 restricted data set, a sample of 360 twins was compared to a sample of 423 non-twins in order to examine the stability in self-control. The twin sample was also used to examine the genetic and environmental sources of stability in self-control. Findings indicated two stable classes for both the twin and singleton samples, and substantial stability in average self-control from kindergarten through fifth grade in both samples. The ACE decomposition model indicated strong genetic contributions to self-control (76%) with the remaining variation attributed to non-shared environment. Overall, the data suggest that self-control is identifiable early in life, stable across childhood, increasingly influenced by genes, and thus, is a critical focus for early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender's role in self-control measures has been largely neglected. Although studies show that males have lower self-control than females, rarely have researchers questioned whether items used to measure self-control should be used for both groups. This study uses a Rasch rating scale analysis to assess item functioning of Grasmick et al.'s 24-item self-control scale for males and females. Using a sample of young adults, results indicate that 33% of the scale items showed differential functioning or item bias; that is, after controlling for self-control, females found one third of the items to be either more or less agreeable than males. Once biased items were removed from the scale, males, on average, still had lower self-control than females. In addition, after excluding biased items from the scale, the effect of self-control on criminal behavior and other outcomes was similar to the effect found with the full 24-item scale. Suggestions for future research on Grasmick et al.'s self-control scale are offered, and limitations of the current study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two empirically unresolved areas of study of Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) self-control theory are personality and gender. The theory states that personality is unrelated to self-control and crime, and prior studies have found that self-control operates differently for males and females. Using data from confined delinquents in the California Youth Authority (n = 791) and measures derived from the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory which is a superordinate measure of personality, the current study explored the linkages between self-control and institutional misconduct. MANOVA and negative binomial regression models showed that wards with lower self-control/self-restraint had greater levels of diverse institutional misconduct. However, self-control was predictive of misconduct in only three of ten multivariate models and only among males. Self-control was unrelated to institutional misconduct among females. Implications for theory and research on the general theory are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims To examine the extent to which genetic factors and shared and non-shared environmental factors are implicated in the development of gambling behaviors and to examine whether there are gender differences in the genetic and environmental contributors to gambling behaviors. Design A genetically informative analysis was performed by using DeFries–Fulker (DF) analysis. Setting Analysis of secondary data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Participants A total of 324 monozygotic (MZ) twins and 278 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twins were included in the analysis. Of these twins, there were 150 male MZ twins, 144 male DZ twins, 174 female MZ twins and 134 female DZ twins. Measurements Gambling behavior was measured through eight self-reported questions that tapped a range of items designed to measure problems related to gambling. Self-reported measures of self-control and delinquent involvement were also included to examine the degree to which these factors covaried with gambling behavior. Findings The results of the DF analysis indicated that when male and female twin pairs were analyzed simultaneously, genetic factors explained approximately 70% of the variance in gambling and non-shared environmental factors explained the remaining variance. When gender-specific models were calculated, substantial gender differences emerged. For males, genetic factors explained approximately 85% of the variance in gambling, with the non-shared environment accounting for the remaining variance. For females, genetic factors explained none of the variance in gambling behaviors, while the shared environment explained 45% of the variance and the non-shared environment explained 55% of the variance. Conclusions Analysis of twins from the Add Health data suggests that there are significant gender differences in the genetic and environmental underpinnings to gambling behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gottfredson and Hirschi's A General Theory of Crime, Moffitt's developmental taxonomy theory, and Caspi et al.'s Gene x Environment study are three of the most influential pieces of contemporary criminological scholarship. Even so, there has been little attempt to integrate and empirically assess these three perspectives simultaneously. This article addresses this gap in the literature by analyzing phenotypic and genotypic data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The results revealed that all three perspectives have considerable empirical support, where neuropsychological deficits interact with the MAOA genotype to predict adolescent delinquency and levels of self-control for White males. The theoretical implications of the findings are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral genetic research has revealed that biogenic factors play a role in the development of antisocial behaviors. Much of this research has also explicated the way in which the environment and genes may combine to create different phenotypes. The authors draw heavily from this literature and use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine genetic and environmental effects on adolescent delinquent involvement. The results of the multivariate models reveal that genetic factors have a direct effect on youthful misconduct. Most important, however, is that genetic factors interact with delinquent peers and with low self-control to predict variation in delinquency. Analysis of the Add Health data also provide evidence suggesting that there is a shared genetic pathway to delinquent involvement, to antisocial peer group formation, and to the development of low self-control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored early childhood manifestations of self-control in a nationally representative cohort of kindergarten children. Finite mixture modeling was used to identify five latent classes of children based on parent and teacher reports of self control across three waves of data. These were a low impairment, teacher report (n = 5,047, 29.3%), low impairment, parent and teacher report (n = 2,889, 16.8%), moderate impairment, teacher report (n = 5,267, 30.6%), moderate impairment, parent report (n = 2,415, 14.0%), and severely impaired subgroups (n = 1,594, 9.3%). Parental stress, externalizing behaviors, and interpersonal skills deficits were important differentiators across class memberships. The severely impaired subgroup possessed an array of neurocognitive deficits, behavioral problems, and learning difficulties relative to other classes. To forestall life-course problem behaviors for impaired children appropriate screening and intervention is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gottfredson and Hirschi''s theory contained two propositions that have been the source of an emerging line of empirical scrutiny. First, according to the general theory of crime, levels of self-control are largely determined by parental management techniques and not by biogenic factors. Second, Gottfredson and Hirschi argued that low self-control should remain relatively stable over the life course. Data from twins drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to test these two hypotheses. The results of univariate model-fitting techniques revealed that genetic factors accounted for between 52 and 64 percent of the variance in low self-control, with the remaining variance attributable to the nonshared environment. Further, low self-control was stable over a two-year time period (r=.64). Bivariate Cholesky decomposition models indicated that the stability of self-control was determined almost exclusively by genetic factors, and that genetic factors also explained a moderate amount of change in self-control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Converging lines of research suggest that self-control and language may be inextricably linked. No empirical research has ever examined this proposition, however. We address this gap in the literature by analyzing a sample of twin pairs from a nationally representative data set of children. The results revealed three broad findings. First, diminished language skills were predictive of low self-control both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Second, the covariation between language and self-control was linked to both genetic and environmental factors. Third, after controlling for genetic influences on self-control, language skills were predictive of variation in individual levels of self-control. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on self-control and related constructs is central to individual-level explanations of antisocial behavior. However, less research attention has been paid to the psychopathological underpinnings of self-control. The current study explores relationships between self-control and psychiatric symptoms, head injury, trauma history, substance use, guiltlessness and narcissistic traits in a statewide population of juvenile offenders. Results support the importance of these variables, in particular narcissistic traits, in better explicating theories of self-control. Implications for research on the psychopathological underpinnings of self-control are highlighted. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime has earned widespread empirical attention testing the proposition that low self- control is the causal antecedent of crime and analogous behaviors. Research consistently finds that low self-control is a robust predictor of antisocial behavior. As a result, studies have started to examine other propositions stated in Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory. Even so, research has been slow to examine the stability of low self-control over different sections of the life course. The current paper addresses this gap in the literature and examines the stability of self-control from kindergarten through first grade. The results of our structural equation models reveal that low self-control is a highly stable trait (stability estimates range between .84 and .96) in early childhood. We conclude with the theoretical implications of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime (1990) has generated an abundance of research testing the proposition that low self-control is the main cause of crime and analogous behaviors. Less empirical work, however, has examined the factors that give rise to low self-control. Gottfredson and Hirschi suggest that parents are the sole contributors for either fostering or thwarting low self-control in their children, explicitly discounting the possibility that genetics may play a key role. Yet genetic research has shown that ADHD and other deficits in the frontostriatal system are highly heritable. Our research thus tests whether “parents matter” in creating low self-control once genetic influences are taken into account. Using a sample of twin children we find that parenting measures have a weak and inconsistent effect. We address the conceptual and methodological issues associated with the failure to address genetic influences in parenting studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory has generated an abundance of research examining the effects of low self-control on crime and analogous behaviors. Less research, however, has focused on the factors that contribute to the development of low self-control. Gottfredson and Hirschi maintain that ineffective parents are the sole cause for the emergence of low self-control. At the same time, they disregard the possibility that low self-control has a biological or genetic component. This article extends prior research and examines the effects of birth complications and parental involvement on low self-control. Using a sample of twin children, the authors find that parental involvement is only weakly and inconsistently related to low self-control. On the other hand, although most of the birth complications had no appreciable effect on low self-control, anoxia (oxygen starvation) emerged as the strongest and most consistent predictor of low self-control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]