Gender and Crime among Felony Offenders: Assessing the Generality of Social Control and Differential Association Theories

Abstract

Although often tested empirically on high school samples, differential association and social control theories have only infrequently been used to explain offending by felons. Based on a sample of 1,153 newly incarcerated felons, the authors examine the ability of differential association and social control theories to explain self-reported offending across types of crime and gender groups. Overall, the analyses lend support to both perspectives and suggest that they are “general” theories of crime. It also appears, however, that differential association theory has more consistent effects, especially for men. Parental attachment is a significantly stronger predictor of female than male participation in violent crime. These results indicate that future studies of criminal behavior risk being misspecified if they do not include measures of these “traditional” theories of crime.

Rationalizing Criminal Behaviour: The Influence of Criminal Sentiments on Sociomoral Development in Violent Offenders and Nonoffenders

“…However, if alpha was set at .05, men and women differed significantly in their endorsement, although the effect size was very weak, with gender only explaining 2.4% of the difference in identification. This finding is similar to the work of Alarid et al (2000), where attachments to criminal peers, although significant for violent female offenders, was slightly stronger for males.…”

“…To avoid bias, and in recognition of the increasing level of female violence (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2001), women were included in this study. However, consistent with previous research (Alarid, Burton, & Cullen, 2000), gender differences were not predicted.…”

Gender and Prescription Painkiller Misuse: Findings from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

“…As such, uncertainty has arisen as to how well his theory applies to females (Alarid, Burton, & Cullen, 2000;Cernkovich & Giordano, 1992;Chesney-Lind & Shelden, 2004;Dornbusch et al, 2001;A. J. Huebner & Betts, 2002;Laundra et al, 2002), particularly since the processes of social control identified in Hirschi's research study only explain delinquency among men (Erickson et al 2000).…”

“…Research has shown that social control factors such as parental attachment, involvement in various pro-social activities, and belief in traditional norms affect both men's and women's reports of serious deviance and risky behavior (Booth et al 2008;Alarid et al 2000;Canter 1982;Liu & Kaplan 1999;Smith & Paternoster 1987). For example, there is a differentiated process of social bonding where girls, particularly in patriarchal households, have a lowered preference for risk through the acquisition of passive gender roles, placing the most importance on relational bonding (Chapple et al 2005).…”

“…However, there are limited data regarding gender as a concept contributing to our understandings of how the parent-child bond affects said deviance (Worthen 2011 (Tetrault et al 2008;Moos & Moos 2007;Strickland & Smith 2013), while another found marriage to be positively associated with drug crimes for women (Alarid et al 2000).…”