Self-Control, External Environment, and Delinquency: A Test of Self-Control Theory in Rural China

• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20923254
• Author: Yue Zhuo,Xiaojin Chen,Xin Jiang
• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20923254

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2020, Vol. 64(16) 1696 –1716

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20923254

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Article

Self-Control, External

Environment, and

Delinquency: A Test of

Self-Control Theory in

Rural China

Xin Jiang1, Xiaojin Chen1, and Yue Zhuo2

Abstract

Although self-control consistently emerges as one of the most robust correlates

of delinquent behavior, limited empirical attempts have been made to explore the

contextual variability of the relationship between self-control and delinquency

outside of Western societies. Using data collected from 587 seventh- to ninth-

grade students across 10 middle schools in a rural county of Southeast China, we

examine self-control’s efficacy in explaining juvenile delinquency in the presence

of external environmental factors, and investigate relative strength of self-control

and contextual factors in predicting delinquent behaviors. Our results confirm that

self-control is an important predictor of delinquent behavior in a non-Western

cultural context. However, certain environmental factors rooted in family, school,

and peer groups are also shown to be the predictors of delinquent behavior where

strength seems to exceed that of self-control. These findings shed more nuanced

insights on the nexus between self-control, external situations, and delinquency,

and in a broader sense, contribute to the elaboration of a more comprehensive

understanding of self-control theory.

Keywords

juvenile delinquency, self-control, external environment, additive effects, Chinese

adolescents

1Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

2St. John’s University, New York City, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Xin Jiang, Department of Sociology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA.

Email: xjiang11@tulane.edu

923254IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20923254International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyJiang et al.

research-article2020

Jiang et al. 1697

Introduction

In the resurgence of criminological interest in individual-level explanations of crimi-

nal behavior from the 1980s, Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) self-control theory has

been undoubtedly among the most influential and widely cited theoretical perspectives

to date. The central hypothesis that the level of self-control within individuals affects

crime and analogous behaviors has been generally supported by empirical tests with

different analytical techniques, methodological approaches, and dependent variables

(see Pratt & Cullen, 2000). Despite the relative success, self-control theory is often

criticized for the simplicity of its claim that self-control should be robust and sufficient

for predicting crime regardless of situational circumstances encountered by the per-

son. Gottfredson and Hirschi largely neglect the role of external environmental condi-

tions in suppressing or exacerbating the expression of low self-control. They make

unequivocal prediction that the effect of low self-control on “all crime, at all times”

(Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990, p. 117) should be uniform across different populations,

stages in the life course, and social and cultural contexts.

Although the explanatory power of low self-control in explaining crime and delin-

quency has been generally supported by empirical tests, ongoing debates have sur-

rounded the parsimonious nature of self-control. Gottfredson and Hirschi claim that

self-control theory has universal applications across different cultures and societies.

As they note, “cultural variability is not important in the causation of crime, . . . and

that a single theory of crime can encompass the reality of cross-cultural differences in

crime rates . . . ” (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990, p. 175). However, self-control theory

has its root in individualistic values in Western societies, which tend to emphasize

belief in independent relationships, uniqueness, personal goals, and autonomy. The

theory has been subject to the criticism that cultural conditions distinct from Western

societies, such as child-rearing practices, shared norms supporting the exercise of self-

control, and age and sex composition of groups, might affect the extent to which self-

control predicts criminal behavior (Tittle & Botchkovar, 2005). The contention of

invariance thesis of self-control warrants research attention because almost all research

has been conducted in well-surveyed Western countries (Antonaccio & Tittle, 2008).

Very limited studies utilized data from non-Western society. Among the existing

research attempts in non-Western society, few examined the robustness of self-control

in East Asian society where external social forces are likely to exert a strong influence

on individual behaviors. This is an unfortunate neglect because a central feature of

self-control theory is that it transcends culture (Yun & Walsh, 2011).

To fill the research void, this study assesses the simultaneous effects of self-control

and contextual factors in the generation of adolescent delinquency in rural China.

Particularly, this study has two primary goals. First, this study examines the validity of

Grasmick and associates’ self-control measure in a sample of adolescents in rural

China, a widely recognized collectivistic cultural setting distinctive from Western

society. Second, this study examines the explanatory power of self-control along with

a larger array of contextual explanatory factors (i.e., family control, school control,

and unstructured activities). Exploring these questions enables us to add to research on