Do birds of a feather really flock together?: friendships, self-control similarity and deviant behaviour

In addition to research consistently linking self-control to crime, a person’s level of self-control is hypothesized to be the root cause of why friendships form. Namely, people with low self-control should ‘flock together’ in highly deviant friendships, and, inversely, persons with high self-contro...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Boman, John H. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2017
In: The British journal of criminology
Year: 2017, Volume: 57, Issue: 5, Pages: 1208-1229
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Description
Summary:In addition to research consistently linking self-control to crime, a person’s level of self-control is hypothesized to be the root cause of why friendships form. Namely, people with low self-control should ‘flock together’ in highly deviant friendships, and, inversely, persons with high self-control should ‘flock together’ in non-deviant friendships. Using dyadic friendship data, this study examines the extent to which self-control similarity, termed self-control ‘homophily’, exists and what implications it carries for deviance. Using hierarchical linear modelling, results demonstrate that friends’ levels of self-control are dissimilar and fail to interact in relation to crime. Instead, differences in friends’ levels of self-control may be more strongly related to crime, failing to support Gottfredson and Hirschi’s hypothesis.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azw067