Exploring Potential Protective Factors for the Relationship between Low Self-Control in Adolescence and Negative Health Outcomes in Adulthood

Abstract

Previous research links low levels of self-control with criminal involvement and negative life outcomes. A similar line of inquiry has begun to explore whether low levels of self-control are also associated with developing health problems in adulthood. This paper extends this research by examining associations between adolescent levels of self-control and four different categories of health outcomes in adulthood. In addition, this study examines whether associations between adolescent levels of low self-control and health outcomes in adulthood are moderated by environmental protective factors. The results reveal that low levels of self-control in adolescence are consistently associated with reporting more health problems. In addition, some evidence emerged in support of the role of environmental protective factors in buffering the risk of developing health problems conferred by low levels of self-control in adolescence.

Keywords

health self-control social disorganization peers life-course theory

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adler

N. E.

Boyce

Chesney

M. A.

Cohen

Folkman

Kahn

R. L.

Syme

S. L.

(1994). Socioeconomic status and health: The challenge of the gradient. American Psychologist, 49(1), 15–24.

Akers

(1985). Deviant behavior: A social learning approach (3rd ed.). Wadsworth.

Arneklev

B. J.

Grasmick

H. G.

Tittle

C. R.

Bursik

R. J.

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

Baron

S. W.

(2003). Self-control, social consequences, and criminal behavior: Street youth and the general theory of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 40(4), 403–425.

Beaver

K. M.

(2008). Nonshared environmental influences on adolescent delinquent involvement and adult criminal behavior. Criminology, 46(2), 341–369.

Beaver

K. M.

Nedelec

J. L.

Silva Costa

Poersch

A. P.

Stelmach

M. C.

Freddi

M. C.

Gajos

J. M.

Boccio

(2014). The association between psychopathic personality traits and health-related outcomes. Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(2), 399–407.

Beaver

K. M.

Ratchford

Ferguson

C. J.

(2009). Evidence of genetic and environmental effects on the development of low self-control. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 36(11), 1158–1172.

Beebe-Dimmer

Lynch

J. W.

Turrell

Lustgarten

Raghunathan

Kaplam

G. A.

(2004). Childhood and adult socioeconomic conditions and 31-year mortality risk in women. American Journal of Epidemiology, 159(5), 481–490.

Benson

M. L.

Moore

(1992). Are white-collar and common offenders the same? An empirical and theoretical critique of a recently proposed general theory of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 29(3), 251–272.

10.

Blum

R. W.

Halcón

Beuhring

Pate

Campell-Forrester

Venema

(2003). Adolescent health in the Caribbean: Risk and protective factors. American Journal of Public Health, 93(3), 456–460.

11.

Chapple

C. L.

(2005). Self-control, peer relations, and delinquency. Justice Quarterly, 22(1), 89 106.

12.

Christakis

N. A.

Fowler

J. H.

(2007). The spread of obesity in large social networks over 32 years. The New England Journal of Medicine, 357(4), 370–379.

13.

Eisenberg

M. E.

Neumark-Sztainer

Story

Perry

(2005). The role of social norms and friends’ influences on unhealthy weight-control behaviors among adolescent girls. Social Science & Medicine, 60(6), 1165–1173.

14.

Evans

T. D.

Cullen

F. T.

Burton

V. S.

Dunaway

R. G.

Benson

M. L.

(1997). The social consequences of self-control: Testing the general theory of crime. Criminology, 35(3), 475–504.

15.

Fergusson

D. M.

Wanner

Vitaro

Horwood

L. J.

Swain-Campbell

(2003). Deviant peers affiliations and depression: Confounding or causation. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31(6), 605–618.

16.

Galobardes

Lynch

J. W.

Davey Smith

(2004). Childhood socioeconomic circumstances and cause-specific mortality in adulthood: Systematic review and interpretation. Epidemiological Reviews, 26(1), 7–21.

17.

Gathergood

(2012). Self-control, financial literacy and consumer over-indebtedness. Journal of Economic Psychology, 33(3), 590–602.

18.

Gibson

C. L.

Wright

J. P.

Tibbetts

S. G.

(2000). An empirical assessment of the generality of the general theory of crime: The effects of low self-control on social development. Journal of Crime & Justice, 23(2), 109–134.

19.

Gottfredson

Hirschi

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

20.

Hall-Lande

J. A.

Eisenberg

M. E.

Christensen

S. L.

Neumark-Sztainer

(2007). Social isolation, psychological health, and protective factors in adolescence. Adolescence, 42(166), 265–286.

21.

Harris

(2013). The Add Health Study: Design and accomplishments. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

22.

Hayward

M. D.

Gorman

B. K.

(2004). The long arm of childhood: The influence of early- life social conditions on men’s mortality. Demography, 41(1), 87–107.

23.

Hirschi

(2004). Self-control and crime. In Baumeister

R. F.

Vohs

K. D.

(Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 537–552). Guilford Press.

24.

Holtfreter

Beaver

K. M.

Reisig

M. D.

Pratt

T. C.

(2010). Low self-control and fraud offending. Journal of Financial Crime, 17(3), 295–307.

25.

Illsley

Baker

(1991). Contextual variations in the meaning of health inequality. Social Science and Medicine, 32(4), 359–365.

26.

Jackson

D. B.

(2016). The link between poor quality nutrition and childhood antisocial behavior: A genetically informative analysis. Journal of Criminal Justice, 44, 13–20.

27.

Jackson

D. B.

Newsome

Vaughn

M. G.

Johnson

K. R.

(2018). Considering the role of food insecurity in low self-control and early delinquency. Journal of Criminal Justice, 56, 127–139.

28.

Jackson

D. B.

Vaughn

M. G.

(2018). A Multi-Informant Study of the Role of Household disorder in low self-control. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 45, 1977–1996.

29.

Jones

Quisenberry

(2004). The general theory of crime: How general is it? Deviant Behavior, 25(5), 401–426.

30.

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.

31.

Kokko

Bergman

L. R.

Pulkkinen

(2003). Child personality characteristics and selection into long-term unemployment in Finnish and Swedish longitudinal samples. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27(2), 134–144.

32.

Lin

Ensel

W. M.

Vaughn

J. C.

(1981). Social resources and strength of ties: Structural factors in occupational status attainment. American Sociological Review, 46(4), 393–405.

33.

Liu

Raine

(2006). The effect of childhood malnutrition on externalizing behavior. Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 18(5), 565–570.

34.

Loeber

Farrington

D. P.

Stouthamer-Loeber

White

H. R.

(2008). Violence and serious theft: Development and prediction from childhood to adulthood. Routledge.

35.

Longshore

(1998). Self-control and criminal opportunity: A prospective test of the general theory of crime. Social Problems, 45(1), 102–113.

36.

Lösel

Farrington

D. P.

(2012). Direct protective and buffering protective factors in the development of youth violence. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 43(2 Suppl. 1), S8–S23.

37.

Menec

V. H.

Shooshtari

Nowicki

Fournier

(2010). Does the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic status and health outcomes persist into very old age? A population-based study. Journal of Aging and Health, 22(1), 27–47.

38.

Miller

H. V.

Barnes

J. C.

Beaver

K. M.

(2011). Self-control and health outcomes in a nationally representative sample. American Journal of Public Health, 35, 15–27.

39.

Moffitt

T. E.

Arseneault

Belsky

Dickson

Hancox

R. J.

Harrington

Houts

Poulton

Roberts

B. W.

Ross

Sears

M. R.

Thomson

W. M.

Caspi

(2011). A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the Unites States of American, 108(7), 2693–2698.

40.

Nedelec

J. L.

Beaver

K. M.

(2014). The relationship between self-control in adolescence and social consequences in adulthood: Assessing the influence of genetic confounds. Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(3), 288–298.

41.

Patel

K. V.

Eschbach

Rudkin

L. L.

Peek

M. K.

Markides

K. S.

(2003). Neighborhood context and self-rate health in older Mexican Americans. Annals of Epidemiology, 13(9), 620–628.

42.

Paternoster

Brame

(1998). The structural similarity of processes generating criminal and analogous behaviors. Criminology, 36(3), 633–670.

43.

Pinquart

Shen

(2011). Behavior problems in children and adolescents with chronic physical illness: a meta-analysis. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 36(9), 1003–1016.

44.

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.

45.

Pratt

T. C.

Cullen

F. T.

Sellers

C. S.

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.

46.

Pudrovska

Anikputa

(2014). Early-life socioeconomic status and mortality in later life: An integration of four life-course mechanisms. Journals of Gerontology, 69(3), 451–460.

47.

Raine

Portnoy

Liu

Mahoomed

Hibbeln

J. R.

(2015). Reduction in behavior problems with omega-3 supplementation in children aged 8–16 years: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, stratified, parallel-group trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(5), 509–520.

48.

Reedy

A. R.

Saunders

J. A.

(2013). Peer behaviors and co-occurring disorders among adolescents. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 30(1), 49–60.

49.

Smith

K. P.

Christakis

N. A.

(2008). Social networks and health. Annual Review of Sociology, 34(1), 405–429.

50.

Stafford

Marmot

(2003). Neighborhood deprivation and health: Does it affect us all equally? International Journal of Epidemiology, 32(3), 357–366.

51.

Stouthamer-Loeber

Loeber

Farrington

D. P.

Zhang

Van Kamen

Maguin

(1993). The double edge of protective and risk factors for delinquency: Interrelations and developmental patterns. Developmental Psychopathology, 5(4), 683–701.

52.

Tangney

J. P.

Baumeister

R. F.

Boone

A. L.

(2004). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. Journal of Personality, 72(2), 271–322.

53.

Thombs

D. L.

Wolcott

B. J.

Farkash

L. G.

(1997). Social context, perceived norms and drinking behavior in young people. Journal of Substance Abuse, 9, 257–267.

54.

Tittle

C. R.

Ward

D. A.

Grasmick

H. G.

(2003). Self-control and crime/deviance: Cognitive vs. behavioral measures. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 19(4), 333–365.

55.

Turner

M. G.

Hartman

J. L.

Exum

M. L.

Cullen

F. T.

(2007). Examining the cumulative effects of protective factors: Resiliency among a national sample of high-risk youths. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 46, 81–111.

56.

Umberson

Montez

J. K.

(2010). Social relationships and health: A flashpoint for health policy. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51, S54–S66.

57.

Welch

M. R.

Tittle

C. R.

Yonkoski

Meidinger

Grasmick

H. G.

(2008). Social integration, self-control, and conformity. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 24(1), 73–92.

58.

Wikström

P-O. H.

Loeber

(2000). Do disadvantaged neighborhood cause well-adjusted children to become adolescent delinquents? A study of male juvenile serious offending, individual risk and protective factors, and neighborhood context. Criminology, 38(4), 1109–11042.

59.

Yen

I. H.

Kaplan

G. A.

(1999). Neighborhood social environment and risk of death: Multilevel evidence from the Alameda County Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 149(10), 898–907.