RT Article
T1 Selection, stability, and spuriousness: testing Gottfredson and Hirschi's propositions to reinterpret street gangs in self-control perspective
JF Criminology
VO 59
IS 2
SP 224
OP 253
A1 Pyrooz, David C.
A2 Melde, Chris
A2 Meldrum, Ryan Charles
A2 Coffman, Donna L.
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1764048806
AB Overlooked in the extensive literature on self-control theory are propositions with respect to street gangs. In Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) perspective, gangs are loose confederations of youth with low self-control and their criminological relevance is attributable to “politics and romance” rather than to rigorous empirical research. Prior research is limited by the use of cross-sectional data, which takes on added importance in light of recent findings on self-control instability. Using six waves of panel data from a large sample of youth, we test three propositions: gang membership is endogenous to self-control (selection), self-control is unrelated to gang membership (stability), and self-control confounds the well-established link between gang membership and delinquency (spuriousness). The main findings from stabilized inverse propensity-weighted multilevel structural equation models are that 1) self-control is one, but not the only, source of selection into gangs; 2) levels of self-control worsen during active periods of gang membership; and 3) gang membership maintains a direct association with delinquency, as well as an indirect association operating through self-control. The empirical evidence does not support reinterpreting gangs in self-control perspective, instead pointing to the continued relevance of the group context to criminology.
K1 Adolescents
K1 Gang membership
K1 multilevel mediation
K1 Self-control theory
K1 stabilized inverse propensity weighting
K1 Structural Equation Modeling
DO 10.1111/1745-9125.12268