Self-Control, Risky Lifestyles, and Victimization among Chinese Adolescents

• Author: Jia Qu,Yuning Wu,Xiaojin Chen
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211027487
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211027487

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(16) 1837 –1861

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0306624X211027487

journals.sagepub.com/home/ijo

Article

Self-Control, Risky Lifestyles,

and Victimization among

Chinese Adolescents

Jia Qu1, Yuning Wu2, and Xiaojin Chen3

Abstract

Violent and property victimization among Chinese adolescents remains a social

problem, yet studies that incorporate individual characteristics and situational/

contextual factors to explain such victimization remain scarce. Drawing upon survey

data collected from a large, representative sample of middle school students from two

areas in Guizhou Province, China, we test Schreck’s integrated model of victimization,

finding that self-control has both direct and indirect influences on violent and

property victimization among Chinese adolescents. Delinquent peers play the most

significant intermediate role in connecting self-control and adolescent victimization.

Results reconfirm the importance of both self-control and risky lifestyles/situations

in shaping victimization, and identify a victimization pathway that accentuates the key

linking mechanism of delinquent peers in the self-control—victimization nexus.

Keywords

victimization, China, self-control, delinquent peers, unsupervised activities, delinquency

Introduction

Although victimization research has been growing rapidly during the past few decades,

empirical evidence on victimization among adolescents in China remains limited.

Compared to adults, adolescents have a higher risk of victimization, largely due to their

greater tendency to engage in risky activities (Cuevas et al., 2007). Juveniles were also

more likely than adults to be victims of violent crimes and endure crime-related injuries

(Hashima & Finkelhor, 1999). Additionally, adolescents are more inclined, relative to

1Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang, China

2Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

3Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Yuning Wu, Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, 3261 Faculty/Administration

Building, Detroit, MI 48202-3489, USA.

Email: yuningwu@wayne.edu

1027487IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X211027487International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyQu et al.

research-article2021

1838 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 66(16)

adults, to be subject to certain victimization-precipitating factors, such as association

with delinquent peers and participation in delinquent acts (McVie, 2005). Experience of

crime not only creates physical injury, psychological distress, emotional pain, and/or

financial damages, but also has the potential to promote delinquent behaviors and other

developmental problems (Finkelhor, 2008; Turner et al., 2017). It is therefore pivotal for

scholars to continue investigating juvenile victimization, particularly among understud-

ied groups and cultures.

This study sets out to examine both violent and property victimization among a

large, representative sample of Chinese adolescents. Theoretically, it draws from

Schreck’ conceptual delineations describing the processes linking self-control and vic-

timization by highlighting contextual/situational risk factors (Schreck, 1999; Schreck

et al., 2002, 2006). Applying theory to victimization is not the same as victim-blaming

(Fox et al., 2016; Schreck, 1999). While self-control has been widely tested in the lit-

erature of delinquency and criminality, it has not been fully assessed in the scholarship

of victimization. Particularly, research on the underlying processes that explain the

effects of self-control on victimization risks remains sparse, calling for more empirical

evidence that utilizes appropriate analytical models to delineate such pathways.

Schreck’s model integrates self-control theory and lifestyle/routine activity theory

(Cohen & Felson, 1979; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990), and argues that low levels of

self-control can lead to a host of crimino-victimogenic variables, such as association

with delinquent peers, engagement in unsupervised leisure activities, and involvement

in delinquent acts, that eventually connect to victimization. As Schreck et al. (2002)

stated, situational and individual factors should not be viewed in a disconnected man-

ner. A more complete framework incorporating personal characteristics like self-con-

trol and situational conditions conducive to crime, such as levels of exposure people

are subject to potential offenders and risky activities, should guide victimization

research. This study joins in the important theorizing efforts of victimization research-

ers (e.g., Gagnon, 2018; Stewart et al., 2004).

This study contributes to the growing literature on Chinese victimization in several

ways. We employ structural equation modeling to examine the effects of self-control

on both violent and property victimization as well as the pathways that connect self-

control to victimization. Although crime rate in China is comparatively lower and

perhaps less violent (less lethal due to China’s strict gun control) compared to some

Western countries (China Daily, 2015), we have no particular reasons to expect that

the explanatory factors of adolescent victimization in China are significantly different

from those in Western countries. For example, while Chinese adolescents, from a

group-oriented culture that emphasizes individual capacity for self-discipline, may

have on average higher levels of self-control than their counterparts from an individu-

alistic culture, the protective influence of self-control against victimization is likely

similar across cultures. Thus, it is feasible and suitable to apply Schreck’s theoretical

perspectives to the Chinese context. By doing so, this study adds an important piece to

the internationalization of criminal justice knowledge. Indeed, testing theories in var-

ied cultural and societal contexts can increase the generalizability and foster empirical

development of theories (Piquero & Sealock, 2000).