Validating Social Control,Self-Control,and Social Learning Constructs Among a Sample of Youth in Nine English-Speaking Caribbean Nations

Abstract

Measures in international self-report surveys drawn from criminological theories have rarely been validated. Instruments that have been tested suggest that they might lack reliability and validity depending on the nation. The present study uses a large sample of school-attending youth in nine English-speaking Caribbean countries to examine the reliability and validity of three theoretical constructs—social control, self-control, and social learning—included in the Eurogang Youth Survey instrument. Our findings suggest that the theoretical constructs contained in the Eurogang Youth Survey instrument are relevant to explaining Caribbean delinquency and show adequate reliability levels. Our results also show consistency in the measurement structure of these theoretical constructs across the study nations.

Keywords

measurement juvenile delinquency criminological theory risk factors reliability and validity risk assessment

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Akers

R. L.

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

Asmann

Jones

(2021). Insight Crime's 2020 Homicide Round up. https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/2020-homicide-round-up/

Bandura

(1991). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In Kurtines

W. M.

Gewirtz

J. L.

(Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development: Theory, research and applications (Vol. 1, pp. 71–129). Erlbaum.

Bandura

Barbaranelli

Caprara

G. V.

Pastorelli

(1996). Mechanisms of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 364–374.

Bovaird

J. A.

Koziol

N. A.

(2012). Measurement models for ordered-categorical indicators. In Hoyle

R. H.

(Ed.), Handbook of structural equation modeling (pp. 495–511). The Guilford Press.

Bowden

S. C.

Saklofske

D. H.

van de Vijver

F. J. R.

Sudarshan

N. J.

Eysenck

S. B. G.

(2016). Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the Eysenck Personality questionnaire across 33 countries. Personality and Individual Differences, 103, 53–60.

Brown

T. A.

(2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. Guilford Publication.

Campbell

H. L.

Barry

C. L.

Joe

J. N.

Finney

S. J.

(2008). Configural, metric, and scalar invariance of the modified achievement goal questionnaire across African American and white university students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 68(6), 988–1007.

Carrington

Hogg

Sozzo

(2016). Southern criminology. The British Journal of Criminology, 56(1), 1–20.

10.

Chase

(2019). Farming systems research in the Eastern Caribbean: An attempt at analyzing intra–household dynamics. In Poats

S. V.

Schmink

Spring

(Eds.), Gender issues in farming systems research and extension (pp. 171–182). CRC Press.

11.

Cheung

G. W.

Rensvold

R. B.

(1999). Testing factorial invariance across groups: A reconceptualization and proposed new method. Journal of Management, 25(1), 1–27.

12.

Cohen

Aiken

L. S.

West

S. G.

(1999). The problem of units and the circumstance for POMP. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 34(3), 315–346.

13.

Conkling

(2007). On islanders and islandness. Geographical Review, 97(2), 191–201.

14.

Cook

T. D.

Campbell

D. T.

(1979). Quasi-experimentation: Design and analysis issues Forfield settings. Rand McNally.

15.

Corbin

Punnett

B. J.

Onifa

(2012). Using cultural metaphors to understand management in the Caribbean. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 12(3), 269–275.

16.

Crocker

Algina

(1986). Introduction to classical and modern test theory. Harcourt Brace Branovich.

17.

Davidov

Meuleman

Cieciuch

Schmidt

Billiet

(2014). Measurement equivalence in cross-national research. The Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 55–75.

18.

Esbensen

F. A.

Maxson

C. L.

(2012). The Eurogang program of research and multimethod comparative gang research: Introduction. In F. -A. Esbensen & C. L. Maxon (Eds.), Youth gangs in international perspective (pp. 1–14). Springer.

19.

Gardner

J. M.

Williams

K. R.

Guerra

N. G.

Walker

(2011). The Jamaica Youth Survey: Assessing core competencies and risk for aggression among Jamaican youth. Caribbean Quarterly, 57(1), 35–53.

20.

Geis

(2000). On the absence of self-control as the basis for a general theory of crime. Theoretical Criminology, 4, 35–53.

21.

Gottfredson

M. R.

(2006). The empirical status of control theory in criminology. In Cullen

F. T.

Wright

J. P.

Blevins

(Eds.), Taking stock: The status of criminological theory (pp. 77–100). Transaction.

22.

Gottfredson

M. R.

Hirschi

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

23.

Grasmick

H. G.

Tittle

C. R.

Bursik

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, 5–29.

24.

Harriott

Katz

C. M.

(2015). Gangs in the Caribbean responses of state and society. The University of the West Indies Press.

25.

Harriott

Munoz

Justiano

Fabiancic

Mercado

(2012). Caribbean human development report. http://www.regionalcentrelac-undp.org/en/hdr-caribbean

26.

Hickling

F. W.

Matthies

B. K.

Morgan

Gibson

R. C.

(Eds.). (2012). Perspectives in Caribbean psychology. The University of the West Indies.

27.

Hirschi

(1960). Causes of delinquency. University of California Press.

28.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55.

29.

Bentler

P. M.

(1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3, 424–453.

30.

Junger-Tas

(1992). An empirical test of social control theory. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 8(1), 9–28.

31.

Kempf

K. L.

(2019). The status of Hirschi's social control theory after 50 years. In Oleson

J. C.

Costello

B. J.

(Eds.), Fifty years of causes of delinquency: The criminology of Travis Hirschi— Advances in criminological theory (Vol. 25, pp. 161–208). Routledge.

32.

Knight

W. A.

(2019). The nexus between vulnerabilities and violence in the Caribbean. Third World Quarterly, 40(2), 405–424.

33.

Levine

Hullett

C. R.

Turner

M. M.

Lapinski

M. K.

(2006). The desirability of using confirmatory factor analysis on published scales. Communication Research Reports, 23(4), 309–314.

34.

Lin

C. Y.

Broström

Nilsen

Griffiths

M. D.

Pakpour

A. H.

(2017). Psychometric validation of the Persian Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale using classic test theory and Rasch models. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(4), 620–629.

35.

Liu

Miller

S. L.

(2020). Protective factors against juvenile delinquency: Exploring gender with a nationally representative sample of youth. Social Science Research, 86, 1–12.

36.

Longshore

Chang

Messina

(2005). Self-control and social bonds: A combined control perspective on juvenile offending. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 21, 419–437.

37.

Maguire

E. R.

(2013). Exploring family risk and protective factors for adolescent problem behaviors in the Caribbean. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 17(8), 1488–1498.

38.

Maguire

E. R.

Wells

Katz

C. M.

(2011). Measuring community risk and protective factors for adolescent problem behaviors: Evidence from a developing nation. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 48(4), 594–620.

39.

Maguire

E. R.

Willis

J. A.

Snipes

Gantley

(2008). Spatial concentrations of violence in Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Journal of Criminology and Public Safety, 13(1&2), 48–92.

40.

Marsh

H. W.

Hau

K.-T.

Wen

(2004). In search of golden rules: Comment on hypothesis-testing approaches to setting cutoff values for fit indexes and dangers in overgeneralizing Hu and Bentler's (1999) findings. Structural Equation Modeling A Multidisciplinary Journal, 11(3), 320–341.

41.

Mazzone

Camodeca

(2019). Bullying and moral disengagement in early adolescence: Do personality and family functioning matter? Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(8), 2120–2130.

42.

McDonald

R. P.

(1970). The theoretical foundations of principal factor analysis, canonical factor analysis, and alpha factor analysis. The British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 23(1), 1–21.

43.

Muthén

du Toit

S. H. C.

Spisic

(1997). Robust inference using weighted least squared and quadratic estimating equations in latent variable modeling with categorical and continuous outcomes. http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/muthen/articles/Article_075.pdf

44.

Muthén

(2017). Mplus (Version 8)[computer software].(1998–2017). Muthén & Muthén.

45.

Pearson

(1894). Contributions to the mathematical theory of evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 185, 71–110.

46.

Pratt

T. C.

Cullen

F. T.

(2000). The empirical status of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime: A meta-analysis. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal, 38, 931–964.

47.

Pratt

T. C.

Cullen

F. T.

Sellers

C. S.

Thomas Winfree

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.

48.

Pryce

(1976). Towards a Caribbean criminology. Caribbean Issues, 11(2), 3–21.

49.

Schermelleh-Engel

Moosbrugger

Müller

(2003). Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: Tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measures. Methods of psychological research online, 8(2), 23–74.

50.

Scott

Staines

(2021). Charting the place of islands in criminology: On isolation, integration and insularity. Theoretical Criminology, 25(4), 578–600.

51.

Smith

T. R.

Crichlow

V. J.

(2013). A cross-cultural validation of self-control theory. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 37(3), 175–193.

52.

Straus

M. A.

(2009). The national context effect: An empirical test of the validity of cross-national research using unrepresentative samples. Cross-Cultural Research, 43(3), 183–205.

53.

Sutton

Ruprah

(2017). Restoring paradise in the Caribbean: Combatting violence with numbers. Inter-American Development Bank.

54.

United Nations. (2021). About Small Island developing states. https://www.un.org/ohrlls/content/about-small-island-developing-states.

55.

Wang

Jensen

G. F.

(2003). Explaining delinquency in Taiwan: A test of social learning theory. In Akers

R. L.

Jensen

G. F.

(Eds.), Social learning theory and the explanation of crime: Advances in criminological theory (Vol. 11, pp. 65–84). Transaction.

56.

Watkins

M. W.

(2017). The reliability of multidimensional neuropsychological measures: From alpha to omega. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 31(6-7), 1113–1126.

57.

Weerman

F. M.

Maxson

C. L.

Esbensen

F. A.

Aldridge

Medina

van Gemert

(2009). Eurogang program manual. University of Missouri at St Louis.

58.

Wortley

(2008). The root causes of youth violence: A review of major theoretical perspectives. Service Ontario Publications.

59.

Zinbarg

R. E.

Revelle

Yovel

(2005). Cronbach's α, Revelle's β, and McDonald's ω_h: Relations with each other and two alternative conceptualizations of reliability. Pyschometrika, 70(1), 123–133.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.07 MB