Perceived Sanction Threats, Gender, and Crime: A Test and Elaboration of Power‐control Theory*

Abstract

This research addresses the need to incorporate the perceived threats of informal sanctions, specifically, shame and embarrassment, into the power‐control model. First, the possibility that gender differences exist in the perceived threats of shame and embarrassment, as well as legal sanctions, and that these differences vary between more patriarchal and less patriarachal households of origin is explored. Second, the relative impact of the informal sanction threat variables compared with the formal legal sanctions is ascertained. Results indicate that significant gender differences exist in the perceived threats of embarrassment and formal sanctions, and that these differences vary by household of origin type. In addition, among those individuals reared in more patriarachal households, the perceived threat of shame accounts for a significant proportion of the gender‐crime relationship.

On the relationships between gender, power control, self-control, and crime

“…This was consistent with much prior deterrence-related research indicating that informal, and self-imposed sanctions tended to overpower formal sanctions (Blackwell, 2000). Including shame and embarrassment also rendered the effect of low self-control insignificant among females in more patriarchal households, a significant attenuation (z m = 3.323).…”

“…In other words, mothers' supervision and girls' affection for mothers impacted girls' risk preferences, risk perceptions, and delinquency while fathers were more likely to impact their sons' attitudes and behaviors. Ultimately, Blackwell (2000) concluded that this was not necessarily out of line with power-control theory, drawing attention to the potential that fathers' greater involvement in child-rearing in less patriarchal households might be decreasing boys' delinquency.…”

“…Indeed, these two concepts were so closely linked that critics contended that Gottfredson and Hirschi presented a tautology (Akers, 1991;Sampson, 1992). Gottfredson and Hirschi (see also Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1993, 2000 responded that individuals with low self-control were not necessarily criminals; rather, criminality was subsumed under low self-control. This did not mean that all people who had low self-control were criminals, but instead indicated that under certain conditions, those with low self-control were more likely than those with high self-control to commit crime.…”

The Role of Parental Maltreatment and Parental Social Control on Self-Reported Violent Offending in Indonesia and the U.S.: Does Gender Make a Difference?

“…Baer [81] found that a mother's direct monitoring of her children's activities is a significant deterrent of delinquent offending across all three racial-groups in the study's sample but a father's direct supervision is a significant deterrent for European-American (i.e., white) but not African-American (i.e., black) or Mexican-American (i.e., Hispanic) children. There could also be differences in terms of perceived threats of informal sanctions, such as shame and embarrassment, which can produce gender differences in offending and these differences can vary by type of household [82]. Females are more likely to be strongly attached to parents and feel more shame than males [83].…”

In the Shadow of Terror: High School Youth Violence in Thailand

“…Some studies led us to expect low violence rates for Muslim Thai girls, especially in public places: Sherer and Sherer (2008) argued that Arab girls in Israel, who grew up in a traditional society, and who had less freedom than Western girls, were less likely to be involved in violent encounters. Blackwell (2000) found varying effects of threats of informal sanctions, specifically shame and embarrassment, on males and females, depending on the extent of patriarchy in their households of origin. Although Thailand is also a patriarchal society, and probably shares the tendencies of traditional societies, we found the southern Thai girls had higher mean scores of violence than the girls in the other two provinces.…”