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Citation |
Boisvert D, Vaske J, Taylor J, Wright JP. Crim. Justice Rev. 2012; 37(1): 5-23. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2012, Georgia State University Public and Urban Affairs, Publisher SAGE Publishing) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
Gottfredson and Hirschi acknowledge that there are sex differences in levels of self-control, with males exhibiting lower levels of self-control compared to females. There remains a gap in the empirical literature, however, as to whether differential parental treatment can explain differences in levels of self-control across the sexes. Using siblings of opposite sex from the Add Health study (N = 356, brother-sister pairs) and following a within-family research design, the current study examines whether differences in parenting behaviors within the home are associated with sex differences in self-control between siblings and whether these differences in self-control explained sex differences in delinquency. The results revealed that differential maternal attachment and differential maternal rejection were significantly related to sex differences in self-control. Sex differences in self-control, in turn, were significantly associated with sex differences in delinquency. The findings also showed that sex differences in self-control mediated the association between differential maternal rejection and delinquency, but that differential maternal attachment was indirectly associated with higher levels of delinquency for boys via lower levels of self-control. The impact of nonshared environmental factors on behavioral differences in opposite-sex siblings within the home is discussed. |