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11 Youth Violence & Juv. Just. 3 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/yvja11 and id is 1 raw text is: Articles Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 11(1) 3-25 K)The Author(s) 2013 Negative Cases in the Nexus Ret orssion: Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Between Self-Control, Social DOI: 10. 177/1541204012447959 http://yv.sagepub.corn Bonds, and Delinquency OSAGE Carter Hay', Ryan C. Meldrum , and Alex R. Piquero3 Abstract Gottfredson and Hirschi view social bonds and crime as spurious correlates that are associated largely because each results from self-control. Prior tests undermine this hypothesis, pointing to negative cases that run counter to its logic. The authors examine this issue with attention to negative cases in which self-control does not translate into the expected level of social bonding. Analyzing data from a sample of U.S. adolescents, the authors found that negative cases constitute between 8% and 27% of cases and that assessing them sheds new light on the interconnections between self-control, social bonds, and delinquency. Keywords social bonds, self-control, general theory of crime, delinquency, spuriousness The nexus between self-control, social bonds, and crime is a central issue in criminology (Sampson & Laub, 1993; Wright, Caspi, Moffitt, & Silva, 1999), and one idea in particular has guided much of the discussion. In A General Theory of Crime, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argued that associa- tions between social bonds and crime are spurious and attributable largely to preexisting individual differences in self-control. According to this view, self-control is developed in the first decade of life and is crucial for social bonding because those with low self-control are less likely to maintain pro- social attachments and commitments. Ultimately, those with high self-control and social bonds should be less involved in crime, but self-control rather than social bonds are seen as the principal cause of crime. These arguments comprise what has been referred to as the spuriousness thesis (Evans, Cullen, Burton, Dunaway, & Benson, 1997, p. 494) or the social selection model (Wright et al., 1999, p. 480). They have attracted significant attention, and for good reason-they suggest that the social 1 College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA 2 Department of Criminal Justice, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA 3 Program in Criminology, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA Corresponding Author: Carter Hay, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, 634 W. Call St., Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA Email: chay@fsu.edu

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