Self-control, negative affect, and young driver aggression: an assessment of competing theoretical claims

A large body of research reveals support for Agnew's general strain theory (GST) and Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory, yet the two perspectives make decidedly different predictions concerning the relationships between self-control, negative affect (e.g., anger), and criminal/deviant behavior. Where GST specifies indirect and conditioning effects of self-control and negative affect on criminal/deviant behavior, self-control theory states that the independent effect of indicators of anger would be spurious and should disappear on controlling for self-control. We test these propositions using survey data from a probability sample of young adults. The structural equation models indicate that, although anger is largely the consequence of self-control, self-control and negative affect exert significant direct effects on driving aggression. These results highlight the need to integrate GST and self-control theories to better explain this form of deviant behavior.