The Differential Relationship between Self-Control and Peer Influences over Time: Toward an Integrative Model of Offending Using a Dual-Systems Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore an alternative approach to unravel how both self-control and peer influence relate to offending. Deriving from a dual-systems framework, this study hypothesizes that individuals with varying levels of self-control will be differentially susceptible to the effects of both exposure to deviant peers and informal socializing with peers. Analyses are based on a sample of serious youthful offenders from the Pathways to Desistance Study. The results indicate that exposure to deviant peers has a stronger impact on offending for individuals with higher self-control, consistent with the hypothesis. However, individuals with higher self-control are more vulnerable to unstructured and unsupervised socializing with peers than those lower in self-control, which counters the hypothesis.

Keywords

dual-systems model self-control informal socializing with peers exposure to deviant peers peer-crime associations

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Akers

R. L.

(1973). Deviant behavior: A social learning approach. Wadsworth.

Akers

R. L.

(1998). Social learning and social structure: A general theory of crime and deviance. Northeastern University Press.

Anderson

A. L.

Hughes

L. A.

(2009). Exposure to situations and transportation. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 46(1), 5–34.

Antonaccio

Tittle

C. R.

(2008). Morality, self-control, and crime. Criminology, 46(2), 479–510.

Arneklev

B. J.

Grasmick

H. G.

Tittle

C. R.

Bursik

R. J.

(1993). Low self-control and imprudent behavior. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 9(3), 225–247.

Augustyn

M. B.

McGloin

J. M.

(2013). The risk of informal socializing with peers: Considering gender differences across predatory delinquency and substance use. Justice Quarterly, 30(1), 117–143.

Boman

J. H.

Gibson

C. L.

(2011). Does the measurement of peer deviance change the relationship between self-control and deviant behavior? An analysis of friendship pairs. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39(6), 521–530.

Brame

Bushway

Paternoster

(1999). On the use of panel research designs and random effects models to investigate static and dynamic theories of criminal offending. Criminology, 37(3), 599–642.

Brezina

Piquero

A. R.

(2007). Moral beliefs, isolation from peers, and abstention from delinquency. Deviant Behavior, 28(5), 433–465.

10.

Bruinsma

G. J. N.

Pauwels

L. J. R.

Weerman

F. M.

Bernasco

(2015). Situational action theory: Cross-sectional and cross-lagged tests of its core propositions. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 57(3), 363–398.

11.

Burton

V. S.

Evans

T. D.

Cullen

F. T.

Olivares

K. M.

Dunaway

R. G.

(1999). Age, self-control, and adults’ offending behaviors: A research note assessing. A general theory of crime. Journal of Criminal Justice, 27(1), 45–54.

12.

Carver

C. S.

(2005). Impulse and constraint: Perspectives from personality psychology, convergence with theory in other areas, and potential for integration. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9(4), 312–333.

13.

Chapple

C. L.

Johnson

K. A.

(2007). Gender differences in impulsivity. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 5(3), 221–234.

14.

Craig

J. M.

Cardwell

S. M.

Piquero

A. R.

(2017). The effects of criminal propensity and strain on later offending. Crime and Delinquency, 63(13), 1655–1681.

15.

Evans

J. S. B. T

. (2008). Dual-processing accounts of reasoning, judgment, and social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59(1), 255–278.

16.

Farrington

D. P.

(1973). Self-reports of deviant behavior: Predictive and stable? The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 64(1), 99.

17.

Felson

R. B.

Osgood

D. W.

Horney

Wiernik

(2012). Having a bad month: General versus specific effects of stress on crime. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 28(2), 347–363.

18.

Gallupe

Baron

S. W.

(2014). Morality, self-control, deterrence, and drug use: Street youths and situational action theory. Crime and Delinquency, 60(2), 284–305.

19.

Gottfredson

Hirschi

(1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford University Press.

20.

Gottfredson

Hirschi

(2019). Modern control theory and the limits of criminal justice. Oxford University Press.

21.

Grasmick

H. G.

Tittle

C. R.

Bursik

J. R. J.

Arneklev

B. J.

(1993). 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.

22.

Hay

Forrest

(2008). Self-control theory and the concept of opportunity: The case for a more systematic union. Criminology, 46(4), 1039–1072.

23.

Haynie

D. L.

(2001). Delinquent peers revisited: Does network structure matter? American Journal of Sociology, 106(4), 1013–1057.

24.

Haynie

D. L.

(2002). Friendship networks and delinquency: The relative nature of peer delinquency. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 18(2), 99–134.

25.

Haynie

D. L.

Osgood

D. W.

(2005). Reconsidering peers and delinquency : How do peers matter ? Theoretical connections between peer relations and delinquency peers as a source of normative influence. Social Forces, 84(2), 1009–1030.

26.

Haynie

D. L.

Payne

D. C.

(2006). Race, friendship networks, and violent delinquency. Criminology, 44(4), 775–805.

27.

Hindelang

M. J.

Hirschi

Weis

J. G.

(1981). Measuring delinquency. SAGE.

28.

Hirtenlehner

Pauwels

Mesko

(2015). Is the criminogenic effect of exposure to peer delinquency dependent on the ability to exercise self-control? Results from three countries. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(6), 532–543.

29.

Hoeben

E. M.

Meldrum

R. C.

Walker

Young

J. T. N.

(2016). The role of peer delinquency and unstructured socializing in explaining delinquency and substance use: A state-of-the-art review. Journal of Criminal Justice, 47, 108–122.

30.

Hoeben

E. M.

Thomas

K. J.

(2019). Peers and offender decision-making. Criminology and Public Policy, 18(4), 759–784.

31.

Hofmann

Friese

Wiers

R. W.

(2008). Impulsive versus reflective influences on health behavior: A theoretical framework and empirical review. Health Psychology Review, 2(2), 111–137.

32.

Kahneman

(2003). A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58(9), 687–720.

33.

Keane

Maxim

P. S.

Teevan

J. J.

(1993). Drinking and driving, self-control, and gender: Testing a general theory of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30(1), 30–46.

34.

Kirk

D. S.

Matsuda

(2011). Legal cynicism, collective efficacy, And the ecology of arrest. Criminology, 49(2), 443–472.

35.

Mamayek

Loughran

Paternoster

(2015). Reason taking the reins from impulsivity: The promise of dual-systems thinking for criminology. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 31(4), 426–448.

36.

Matsueda

R. L.

(1992). Reflected appraisals, parental labeling, and delinquency: Specifying a symbolic interactionist theory. American Journal of Sociology, 97(6), 1577–1611.

37.

Matsueda

R. L.

Anderson

(1998). The dynamics of delinquent peers and delinquent behavior. Criminology, 36(2), 269–308.

38.

Matsueda

R. L.

Heimer

(1987). Race, family structure, and delinquency : A test of differential association and social control theories. American Sociological Review, 52(6), 826–840.

39.

Matza

(1969). Becoming deviant. Transaction.

40.

Matza

Sykes

G. M.

(1961). Juvenile delinquency and subterranean values. American Sociological Review, 26(5), 712–719.

41.

McCarthy

(2002). New economics of sociological criminology. Annual Review of Sociology, 28(1), 417–442.

42.

McGloin

J. M.

Thomas

K. J.

(2016). Considering the elements that inform perceived peer deviance. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(5), 597–627.

43.

McGloin

J. M.

Thomas

K. J.

(2019). Peer influence and delinquency. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 241–264.

44.

Mead

G. H.

(1934). Mind, self, and society: From the standpoint of a social behaviorist. University of Chicago Press.

45.

Mears

D. P.

Ploeger

Warr

(1998). Explaining the gender gap in delinquency: Peer influence and moral evaluations of behavior. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 35(3), 251–266.

46.

Meldrum

R. C.

Miller

H. V.

Flexon

J. L.

(2013). Susceptibility to peer influence, self-control, and delinquency. Sociological Inquiry, 83(1), 106–129.

47.

Meldrum

R. C.

Young

J. T. N.

Weerman

F. M.

(2009). Reconsidering the effect of self-control and delinquent peers. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 46(3), 353–376.

48.

Monahan

K. C.

Piquero

A. R.

(2009). Investigating the longitudinal relation between offending frequency and offending variety. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 36(7), 653–673.

49.

Mulvey

E. P.

Steinberg

Fagan

Cauffman

Piquero

A. R.

Chassin

Knight

G. P.

Brame

Schubert

C. A.

Hecker

Losoya

S. H.

(2004). Theory and research on desistance from antisocial activity among serious adolescent offenders. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2(3), 213–236.

50.

Mulvey

E. P.

Steinberg

Piquero

A. R.

Besana

Fagan

Schubert

Cauffman

(2010). Trajectories of desistance and continuity in antisocial behavior following court adjudication among serious adolescent offenders. Development and Psychopathology, 22(2), 453–475.

51.

Nagin

D. S.

Paternoster

(1993). Enduring individual differences and rational choice theories of crime. Law and Society Review, 27(3), 467–496.

52.

Osgood

D. W.

Anderson

A. L.

(2004). Unstructured socializing and rates of delinquency. Criminology, 42(3), 519–550.

53.

Osgood

D. W.

Wilson

J. K.

O’Malley

P. M.

Bachman

J. G.

Johnston

L. D.

Osgood

D. W.

Wilson

J. K.

Malley

P. M. O.

Bachman

J. G.

Johnston

L. D.

(1996). Routine activities and individual deviant behavior. American Sociological Review, 61(4), 635–655.

54.

Paternoster

Pogarsky

(2009). Rational choice, agency and thoughtfully reflective decision making: The short and long-term consequences of making good choices. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 25(2), 103–127.

55.

Paternoster

Pogarsky

Zimmerman

(2011). Thoughtfully reflective decision making and the accumulation of capital: Bringing choice back in. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 27(1), 1–26.

56.

Pauwels

L. J. R.

Svensson

Hirtenlehner

(2018). Testing situational action theory: A narrative review of studies published between 2006 and 2015. European Journal of Criminology, 15(1), 32–55.

57.

Piquero

A. R.

MacDonald

Dobrin

Daigle

L. E.

Cullen

F. T.

(2005). Self-control, violent offending, and homicide victimization: Assessing the general theory of crime. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 21(1), 55–71.

58.

Piquero

A. R.

Turner

(2002). The stability of self-control. Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 457–471.

59.

Piquero

N. L.

Cover

A. R.

Macdonald

J. M.

Piquero

A. R.

(2005). The influence of delinquent peers on delinquency: Does gender matter? Youth and Society, 36(3), 251–275.

60.

Pratt

T. C.

Cullen

F. T.

(2000). The empirical status of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime: A meta-analysis. Criminology, 38(3), 931–964.

61.

Pratt

T. C.

Cullen

F. T.

Sellers

C. S.

Winfree

L. T.

Madensen

T. D.

Daigle

L. E.

Fearn

N. E.

Gau

J. M.

(2010). The empirical status of social learning theory: A meta-analysis. Justice Quarterly, 27(6), 765–802.

62.

Samaniego

R. Y.

Gonzales

N. A.

(1999). Multiple mediators of the effects of acculturation status on delinquency for Mexican American adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(2), 189–210.

63.

Schubert

C. A.

Mulvey

E. P.

Steinberg

Cauffman

Losoya

S. H.

Hecker

Chassin

Knight

G. P.

(2004). Operational lessons from the pathways to desistance project. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2(3), 237–255.

64.

Steinberg

(2010). A dual systems model of adolescent risk-taking. Developmental Psychobiology, 52(3), 216–224.

65.

Sutherland

E. H.

(1947). Principles of criminology (4th ed.). J.B. Lippincott.

66.

Sutherland

E. H.

Cressey

D. R.

(1955). Principles of criminology (5th ed.). J.B. Lippincott.

67.

Sweeten

(2012). Scaling criminal offending. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 28(3), 533–557.

68.

Sweeten

Piquero

A. R.

Steinberg

(2013). Age and the explanation of crime, revisited. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(6), 921–938.

69.

Thomas

K. J.

McGloin

J. M.

(2013). A dual-systems approach for understanding differential susceptibility to processes of peer influence. Criminology, 51(2), 435–474.

70.

Thomas

K. J.

Vogel

(2019). Testing a rational choice model of “desistance:” Decomposing changing expectations and changing utilities. Criminology, 57(4), 687–714.

71.

Thornberry

T. P.

Krohn

M. D.

Lizotte

A. J.

Chard-Wierschem

(1993). The role of juvenile gangs in facilitating delinquent behavior. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30(1), 55–87.

72.

Thornberry

T. P.

Lizotte

A. J.

Krohn

M. D.

Farnworth

Jang

S. J.

(1994). Delinquent peers, beliefs, and delinquent Behavior: A longitudinal test of interactional theory. Criminology, 32(1), 47–83.

73.

Vazsonyi

A. T.

Mikuška

Kelley

E. L.

(2017). It’s time: A meta-analysis on the self-control-deviance link. Journal of Criminal Justice, 48, 48–63.

74.

Warr

(2002). Companions in crime: The social aspects of criminal conduct. Cambridge University Press.

75.

Weerman

F. M.

Bernasco

Bruinsma

G. J. N.

Pauwels

L. J. R.

(2015). When is spending time with peers related to delinquency? The importance of where, what, and with whom. Crime and Delinquency, 61(10), 1386–1413.

76.

Weerman

F. M.

Hoeve

(2012). Peers and delinquency among girls and boys: Are sex differences in delinquency explained by peer factors? European Journal of Criminology, 9(3), 228–244.

77.

Weinberger

D. A.

Schwartz

G. E.

(1990). Distress and restraint as superordinate dimensions of self-reported adjustment: A typological perspective. Journal of Personality, 58(2), 381–417.

78.

Wikström

P.-O. H.

(2004). Crime as alternative: Towards a cross-level situational action theory of crime causation. In Mccord

(Ed.), Beyond empiricism: Institutions and intentions in the study of crime (Vol. 13, pp. 1–37). Transaction.

79.

Wikström

P.-O. H.

(2006). Individuals, settings, and acts of crime: Situational mechanisms and the explanation of crime. In Wikström

P.-O. H.

Sampson

R. J.

(Eds.), The explanation of crime: Context, mechanisms and development (pp. 61–107). Cambridge University Press.

80.

Wikström

P.-O. H.

(2010). Explaining crime as moral actions. In Hitlin

Vaisey

(Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of morality (pp. 211–239). Springer.

81.

Wikström

P.-O. H.

Oberwittler

Treiber

Hardie

(2012). Breaking rules: The social and situational dynamics of young people’s urban crime. Oxford University Press.

82.

Wikström

P.-O. H.

Treiber

(2016). Situational theory: The importance of interactions and action mechanisms in the explanation of crime. In Piquero

A. R.

(Ed.), The handbook of criminological theory (1st ed., pp. 415–444). Wiley Blackwell.

83.

Worrall

J. L.

(2010). A user-friendly introduction to panel data modeling. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 21(2), 182–196.

84.

Wright

B. R. E.

Caspi

Moffitt

T. E.

Silva

P. A.

(2001). The effects of social ties on crime vary by criminal propensity: A life-course model of interdependence. Criminology, 39(2), 321–348.

85.

Zimmerman

G. M.

(2016). Examining gendered pathways in the causal chain linking neighborhood navigational strategies and unstructured socializing to adolescent violent offending. Journal of Criminal Justice, 46, 94–105.