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

Date01 March 2013
DOI10.1177/0306624X11435318
AuthorEkaterina V. Botchkovar,Lisa Broidy
Published date01 March 2013
Subject MatterArticles
International Journal of
Offender Therapy and
Comparative Criminology
57(3) 357 –376
© The Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permission:
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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

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