Parenting, Self-Control, and the Gender Gap in Heavy Drinking

• Date: 01 March 2013
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X11435318
• Author: Ekaterina V. Botchkovar,Lisa Broidy
• Published date: 01 March 2013
• Subject Matter: Articles

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

57(3) 357 –376

© The Author(s) 2012

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X11435318

ijo.sagepub.com

435318IJO57310.1177/0306624X11435318Botchko

var and BroidyInternational Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology

1Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

2University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA

Corresponding Author:

Ekaterina Botchkovar, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., 425 Churchill Hall, Boston,

MA 02115, USA.

Email: e.botchkovar@neu.edu

Parenting, Self-Control,

and the Gender Gap in

Heavy Drinking:

The Case of Russia

Ekaterina V. Botchkovar1 and Lisa Broidy2

Abstract

Drawing on Gottfredson and Hirschi’s theory linking parenting to deviant behavior

via development of self-control, the authors assess the association between parenting

styles, self-control ability, and frequent alcohol use separately for males and females.

The authors’ findings from a random sample of 440 Russian respondents provide

mixed support for self-control theory. Contrary to the theory, but in line with extant

research, the authors failed to uncover significant gender differences in childhood

upbringing or establish a strong link between parenting techniques and self-control.

Furthermore, whereas parental upbringing appears to increase the likelihood of

frequent drinking among men, self-control does not mediate this relationship but

rather acts as an independent predictor of men’s alcohol abuse. Finally, the relatively

modest contribution of self-control differences to the gender gap in frequent drinking

suggests that higher alcohol consumption among men likely stems from alternative,

possibly context-embedded factors.

Keywords

self-control, parenting, deviance, Russia

The past two decades marked a period of radical transformations in the socioeconomic

and political life of Russian society. The demise of the Soviet Union and the subse-

quent transition of Russia to a market economy paved the way for the widespread

358 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 57(3)

decline in the welfare of the country’s population (Klugman & Braithwaite, 1998). At

the height of social crisis, Russia faced a significant increase in alcohol consumption

and alcohol-related deaths (World Health Organization [WHO], 2006). On average,

Russians consume approximately 15 liters of alcohol a year (Nemtsov, 2005; WHO

2004 estimate is more conservative at 11 liters a year). By contrast, the median alcohol

consumption rate in the countries of European Union is 9.6 liters (WHO, 2006).

Research also confirms that despite the high overall rates of alcohol use in the country,

only 10% of men and 2% of women in Russia consume alcohol several times a week,

and about 11% of men and 1% of women drink up to half quart of alcohol per session

(McKee, 1999).

Although research has sought to identify individual risk factors associated with

heavy drinking (Carlson & Vågerö, 1998), studies rarely explain why some Russians

drink heavily, whereas others prefer to abstain from alcohol completely. Furthermore,

no studies have investigated why alcohol consumption and binge drinking remain pre-

dominantly male phenomena among Russians (Bobak, McKee, Rose, & Marmot,

1999; Carlson & Vågerö, 1998). Most popular explanations of a gender gap in alcohol

use focus on differential physiological responses to alcohol (Heath et al., 1999), the

influence of gender stereotypes and expectations on men’s and women’s drinking

behavior (Huselid & Cooper, 1992; Van Gundy, Schieman, Kelley, & Rebellon,

2005), and personality characteristics, such as lack of behavioral constraint, possibly

more common among men (Caspi, Moffitt, Newman, & Silva, 1996). However,

empirical evidence from these studies has been inconclusive and, likely, limited in

generalizability due to their reliance on predominantly Western-based data.

Drawing on self-control theory (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990), which links alcohol

abuse to the inability to control behavioral impulses developed as a result of ineffec-

tive parenting, we seek to explain the gender gap in heavy drinking in a random sam-

ple of 440 Russian adults. Specifically, we assess the links between parenting

strategies, self-control, and alcohol use separately for males and females and investi-

gate whether the causal mechanisms proposed by self-control theory account for the

gender variation in alcohol use.

Gender and Sources of Self-Control

Integrating two long-established predictors of antisocial and unhealthy behaviors,

ineffective parenting (Rollins & Thomas, 1979) and personality characteristics such

as impulsivity or negative emotionality (Caspi et al., 1994; Wilson & Herrnstein,

1985), Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argue that although all people are occasionally

tempted to commit illegal acts, some successfully withstand deviant impulses and

others succumb to their desires. The ability to resist deviant temptations is a marker

of high self-control, whereas low self-control increases the likelihood of criminal and

analogous acts such as substance abuse because it hinders one’s ability to engage in

long-term calculus, making individuals particularly vulnerable to the temptations

of the moment. Children develop self-control under the tutelage of parents who, if