The Empirical Status of Hirschi′s Control Theory

Bibliographic Data

ID20053477
AuthorsKimberly L Kempf (corresponding author)
Year2023
Pages143-185
Publication date2023-04-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueNew Directions in Criminological Theory (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9781003421139-7
OpenAlexW4367179891
ISBN9781003421139
LanguageEN
Citations received9

Travis Hirschi introduced his theory of social control in 1969 in Causes of Delinquency and it has been gaining popularity for nearly twenty-five years. The absence of an evaluation summarizing the research achievements of control theory has not, however, precluded the “wheel of science” from amassing results. Empirical tests of control theory published between 1970 and 1991 were identified through a two-stage process. Studies initially were located through a search of the Social Science Citation Indices, Criminal Justice Abstracts and Psychological Literature Indices using “control,” “social control,” “social bond,” and “Hirschi” as key words. There were twenty-eight replication efforts, of which many attempted to extend the theory to demographic groups not examined by Hirschi, such as company executives, rural youth, females and minority youths and other domains of deviance, including sixteen studies of only drug or alcohol use, four studies of adult crime, two studies of sexual behavior, and one study of mental health disorders

Computer Science · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Artificial Intelligence

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