In A General Theory of Crime, Gottfredson and Hirschi propose that low self-control, in interaction with criminal opportunity, is the major cause of crime. The research reported in this article attempts to test this argument while closely following the nominal definitions presented by Gottfredson and Hirschi. A factor analysis of items designed to measure low self-control is consistent with their contention that the trait is unidimensional. Further, the proposed interaction effect is found for self-reported acts of both fraud and force (their definition of crime). Inconsistent with the theory are (a) the finding that criminal opportunity has a significant main effect, beyond its interaction with low self-control, on self-reported crime and (b) the substantial proportion of variance in crime left unexplained by the theoretical variables.
| Construct | Cites | Category | Questions given? | Content validity | Pretests | Response type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| low self-control | NEW | yes | none | pretested on several samples of college students | 5-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" | ||
| crime opportunity | NEW | partially | none | none | no |
Harold G. Grasmick, Charles R. Tittle, Robert J. Bursik Jr, and Bruce J. Arneklev. Testing the core empirical implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime. Journal of research in crime and delinquency, 30(1):5–29, 1993.
@article{grasmick_testing_1993,
author = {Grasmick, Harold G. and Tittle, Charles R. and Bursik Jr, Robert J. and Arneklev, Bruce J.},
journal = {Journal of research in crime and delinquency},
number = {1},
pages = {5--29},
title = {Testing the Core Empirical Implications of {{Gottfredson}} and {{Hirschi}}'s General Theory of Crime},
volume = {30},
year = {1993}
}