Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


ucin1243306307.pdf (727.62 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Rethinking Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime: A Behavioral Genetic Approach

Boisvert, Danielle
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1243306307

Abstract Details

2009, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Education : Criminal Justice.
Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) general theory of crime has received considerable attention over the years. At the heart of their theory is the concept of low self-control, which has emerged as a strong predictor of antisocial and delinquent behaviors. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to expand criminology's current understanding of low self-control and its relationship with delinquent behaviors by using a behavioral genetic approach. Using the twin subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), several genetic analyses are conducted to examine the genetic and environmental contributions to low self-control and its relationship with delinquency. The results from the best fitting models revealed that both low self-control and delinquency are influenced by genetic and nonshared environmental factors with the effects of shared environmental factors being negligible. Furthermore, the results from the qualitative and quantitative sex differences analyses suggest that the genetic factors that are influencing low self-control and delinquency are the same for males and females and that the magnitude of the genetic effects is the same across the sexes. In addition, the co-occurrence of low self-control and delinquency appears to be largely due to the same genetic and nonshared environmental factors operating on both phenotypes. Interestingly, low self-control and delinquency do not appear to be associated over time because of a common genetic and/or environmental etiology. Rather, different genetic and environmental factors appear to be operating on both traits across time. The implications of these findings on the current understanding of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime are discussed.
John Wright, PhD (Committee Chair)
Francis Cullen, PhD (Committee Member)
Michael Benson, PhD (Committee Member)
Kevin Beaver, PhD (Committee Member)
239 p.
Criminology
low self-control; behavioral genetics; Mx; Gottfredson and Hirschi; general theory of crime; sex differences; biosocial criminology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Boisvert, D. (2009). Rethinking Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime: A Behavioral Genetic Approach [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1243306307

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Boisvert, Danielle. Rethinking Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime: A Behavioral Genetic Approach. 2009. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1243306307.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Boisvert, Danielle. "Rethinking Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime: A Behavioral Genetic Approach." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1243306307

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1243306307
1,753
© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.