Capacity for Self-Control and Individuals' Interest in Exercising Self-Control
We identify and elaborate a conceptual distinction between capability for self-control and the desire to exercise it, and employ data from a city survey to explore the empirical viability of such a differentiation. Separate scales measuring ability and desire to exercise self-control both prove to b...
| Authors: | ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2004
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| In: |
Journal of quantitative criminology
Year: 2004, Volume: 20, Issue: 2, Pages: 143-172 |
| Online Access: |
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Summary: | We identify and elaborate a conceptual distinction between capability for self-control and the desire to exercise it, and employ data from a city survey to explore the empirical viability of such a differentiation. Separate scales measuring ability and desire to exercise self-control both prove to be significant and moderately strong predictors of several measures of criminal/deviant behavior, showing independent, cumulative, and interactive relationships with each other. For some measures of crime/deviance, self-control capability is most effective when the individual's interest in exercising self-control is low but its effect is greatly reduced or eliminated when desire to exercise self-control desire is high. Combinations of capability for self-control and interest in exercising it prove to be particularly good predictors of the absolute level of misbehavior. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-7799 |
| DOI: | 10.1023/B:JOQC.0000029092.81837.74 |