Aspirations, Expectations and Delinquency: The Moderating Effect of Impulse Control

Abstract

Although prior research finds a robust link between delinquent behavior and expectations, or an adolescent's perceived likelihood of obtaining one's future goals, fewer studies have evaluated aspirations, or the perceived importance of achieving one's goals. In addition, few studies consider how individual traits such as impulsivity affect the degree to which expectations and aspirations motivate or deter delinquent behavior. We contribute to this body of research by evaluating the independent effects of expectations and aspirations, and the aspiration-expectation gap (i.e., strain) on delinquent behavior during the year following an adolescent's first arrest using a large (N = 1117), racially/ethnically diverse sample of male adolescents (46.55% Latino, 35.81% Black, 14.95% White, and 2.69% Other race). In addition, we considered how impulse control interacts with expectations, aspirations, and strain to motivate behavior. Our results indicated that both aspirations, expectations and strain uniquely influence criminal behavior. Importantly, aspirations interacted with impulse control, such that aspirations affected delinquency only among youth with higher impulse control. Our findings suggest that aspirations may only influence behavior if youth also have the psychosocial capabilities to consider their future aspirations when behaving in the present.

Risky Sexual Behavior among Arrested Adolescent Males: The Role of Future Expectations and Impulse Control

“…Moreover, we were able to simultaneously test these two related yet distinct risk factors as well as test the interaction between the two predictors. Impulse control and future expectations represent distinct aspects of psychosocial development (Mahler et al, 2017;Nagin & Pogarsky, 2004), and although the current study did not find a significant interaction between the two, future research should continue to consider the relation between these variables among additional samples of developing adolescents.…”

“…Two past studies found that positive future expectations were protective against delinquent behaviors for youth lacking impulse control (Chen & Vazsonyi, ; Clinkinbeard, ). A separate analysis, using the same sample as the current investigation, found no significant interaction between future expectations and impulse control in predicting self‐reported offending (Mahler et al., ). To our knowledge, prior research has yet to consider whether future expectations and impulse control interact to influence adolescent sexual behavior.…”

“…Although moderately correlated (Nagin & Pogarsky, 2004), prior research suggests that optimism with the future is not necessarily accompanied by the ability to suppress one's impulses. Prior research has explored the interaction between impulse control and future expectations in relation to delinquency outcomes (Chen & Vazsonyi, 2011;Clinkinbeard, 2014;Mahler, Simmons, Frick, Steinberg, & Cauffman, 2017), but not sexual behaviors. Two past studies found that positive future expectations were protective against delinquent behaviors for youth lacking impulse control (Chen & Vazsonyi, 2011;Clinkinbeard, 2014).…”

Validating a Measure of Client Change

“…Moreover, positive expectations regarding change has been associated with better performance in terms of re-offending (Doekhie, Dirkzwager, & Nieuwbeerta, 2017;Iselin, Mulvey, Loughran, Chung, & Schubert, 2012;Mahler, Simmons, Frick, Steinberg, & Cauffman, 2017). For example, Mahler and colleagues (2017) analysed 1,216 male juvenile offenders on IQ, expectations-using the Perceptions of Opportunities Measure-and impulse control relating to self-reported offending behaviour at three points after their first official encounter with the justice system.…”

How Does Juvenile Offending Relate to Mothers' Aspirations and Expectations for Their Sons?

“…Conversely, aspirations have been operationalized in two ways: the first captures what a parent wishes or desires his or her child to achieve despite what may be realistic or feasible (Goldenberg, Gallimore, Reese, & Garnier, 2001). A second indicator of aspirations includes the perceived importance of a future goal, but to the best of our knowledge, this has only been used to measure adolescent aspirations (Iselin, Mulvey, Loughran, Chung, & Schubert, 2012;Knight, Ellis, Roark, Henry, & Huizinga, 2017;Mahler, Simmons, Frick, Steinberg, & Cauffman, 2017). Eccles (1983) expectancy-value model also recognizes the combined role of perceived expectations for success and the perceived importance of a task in predicting achievement-related behaviors.…”