Elsevier

Journal of Criminal Justice

Volume 38, Issue 5, September–October 2010, Pages 1015-1021
Journal of Criminal Justice

Exploring the link between self-control and partner violence: Bad parenting or general criminals

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2010.07.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

This study examines the mechanisms that connect self-control and domestic violence with a specific focus given to the influence of bad parenting and general criminal behavior.

Methods

The authors used data from a community-based sample of 375 respondents. Path analysis was conducted exploring whether bad parenting (as measured by child victimization) or general criminal behavior linked self-control and partner violence together.

Results

The results showed a link between self-control and partner violence. The results also showed that while child victimization is related to partner abuse, it does not appear to be the link between self-control and domestic violence. General criminal histories, however, appear to be a link between self-control and partner violence.

Conclusions

Efforts to treat partner abusers should focus on raising their self-control levels by focusing on general characteristics of abusers rather than specific experiences of child maltreatment. Criminal justice responses should be targeted to addressing offenders self-control levels through measures that provide an “external conscience” (Jenuwine et al., 2003) for offenders. Partner abusers should be viewed and treated as general types of criminals rather than specific types of offenders. The precise influence of bad parenting, and strategies to define bad parenting in self-control research, remain in question.

Research Highlights

►This research found a link between self-control and partner violence, but the ties were not explained by bad parenting strategies. ►Child victimization was found to be related to domestic violence as an adult, but the experience of child victimization does not appear to be the link between self-control and partner abuse. ►The link between self-control and partner violence appears to be general criminal histories. ►The results suggest that partner abusers should be treated as general types of offenders, with an aim towards increasing their levels of self-control.

Introduction

Research shows that intimate partner violence is among the most common forms of violence against women (Doerner and Lab, 2005, Payne and Gainey, 2005, Wiehe, 2005). Forms of violence include physical and sexual abuse, psychological abuse, stalking, and a number of other harmful activities. Unlike stranger violence, victims of partner violence are at risk for abuse over extended periods of times and in their own homes. Research shows that offenders are able to commit their abusive actions behind closed doors in these cases, with criminal justice involvement being the exception rather than the norm (Payne & Gainey, 2005). Research also shows that offenders tend to commit multiple forms of partner violence (Koss, Goodman, Browne, Keita, & Russo, 1994). Offenders who physically abuse their partners also are likely to commit psychological and emotional abuse, and many are likely to commit other forms of crime as well (Sherman, 1992).

An emergent literature has begun to explore the usefulness of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory for enhancing understanding of the occurrence of partner abuse. Such applications rely on Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) position that their theory is poised to explain a broad range of behaviors. Given this proposed breadth of application, researchers have begun to explore the theory's ability for explaining intimate partner violence, given that this type of violent behavior has been identified apart from other violent acts because of the relational context involved. This different notwithstanding, it has been posited that the same factors that cause crime in general also are at the foundation of partner abuse. Indeed, it is assumed that partner abusers are offenders who commit criminal acts in a variety of settings and against an assortment of targets (Ramirez, 2005, Sherman, 1992, Simon, 1997).

The general theory suggests that crime is caused when individuals with low levels of self-control have the opportunity to commit crime. This study builds on both the low self-control and domestic violence literatures by working to decipher the paths through which self-control may or may not generate partner violence, whether IPA and other forms of crime are caused by the same phenomena, and whether abusers are criminals who commit a variety of criminal acts.

In this study, attention is given to whether self-control theory can be used to explain partner violence. This research is interested not only in this general relationship, but also in whether self-control is linked to partner violence through assumptions underlying self-control theory or through explanations of general criminal behavior. Identifying whether and how low self-control operates can help to determine whether partner violence and other forms of crime are caused by the same phenomena, and whether abusers are criminals who commit a variety of criminal acts, questions which are clearly poised to enhance programming strategies when coping with the effects and outcomes of domestic violence.

Section snippets

Self-control theory and partner violence

Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) version of self-control theory is one of the most important theoretical perspectives to emerge in recent years. Provocative claims, mixed with simplicity of concepts with subtle complexities have clearly intrigued scholars, as evidenced by the sheer girth of the empirical literature on the theory. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argued that rational individuals would weigh the perceived pleasure of an act against the perceived pain of act when making the decision

The present study

The purpose of the present study is to provide an examination of a specified model to potentially explain partner violence. Specifically, this study hypothesizes that self-control directly, and negatively, impacts the occurrence of partner violence, with those who have high levels of self-control presumed to be less likely to commit partner violence when compared to those with lower levels of self control. Moreover, the relationships that exist between childhood victimization, criminal

Data

A telephone survey was conducted with 375 residents of four small metropolitan areas in southeastern Virginia. Phone numbers were randomly selected by purchasing a list of numbers from a sampling company. Table 1 depicts the characteristics of the sample. Approximately 70 percent of the respondents were females and about two-thirds were white. Less than one in five reported being single, while more than 60 percent were married when they completed the survey. A comparison to census data for

Stage 1

Table 2 reports the bivariate correlations indicate that a positive association exists between partner violence and criminal histories (r = .52). The association between childhood victimization and partner violence is positive (r = .25). The association between self-control and partner violence is negative (r = -.28). These correlations indicate that all of the measures share variance with partner violence.

Table 2 also shows that criminal histories share variance or are associated with childhood

Discussion

Consistent with past research, the results of this study demonstrate that child victimization and partner violence are related (Button, 2008, Payne and Gainey, 2005, Widom, 1989). Self-control, however, was not related to child victimization, which tacitly suggests that this form of bad parenting (harming a child) does not necessarily result in a low self-control. In terms of criminal history, those who reported committing other acts were also more likely to report domestic violence.

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