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Social Learning, Self-Control, and Offending Specialization and Versatility among Friends
John H Boman1, Thomas J Mowen1, George E Higgins2
1Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, 240 Williams Hall, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA.
American Journal of Criminal Justice : AJCJ
|May 21, 2021
Summary
Friendship dynamics influence offending versatility. Peer offending behavior and lower personal self-control increase versatility, while peer self-control has no effect, challenging existing theories.
Area of Science:
- Criminology
- Sociology
- Psychology
Background:
- Limited understanding of offending specialization and versatility within friendships.
- Exploration of self-control and social learning theories in explaining criminal behavior among peers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how self-control and social learning theories explain offending versatility among friends.
- To analyze the relationship between peer offending, personal self-control, and individual offending versatility.
Main Methods:
- Multilevel, dyadic, mixed-effects models used with a large sample of individuals within friendship pairs.
- Regression analysis of offending versatility on measures of peer versatility and self-control.
Main Results:
- Higher perceptual and self-reported peer versatility correlate with increased offending versatility.
- Lower attitudinal and behavioral self-control in individuals are linked to higher offending versatility.
- Peer self-control showed no significant relationship with offending versatility.
Conclusions:
- Both social learning and self-control theories offer insights into offending versatility among friends.
- Contradictory findings regarding peer self-control challenge existing self-control theory propositions.
- The concept of opportunity may reconcile inconsistencies within self-control theory regarding peer influence.
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