Constance L. Chapple

maternal characteristics, parenting, and adolescent sexual behavior: the role of self-control

ABSTRACT Gottfredson and Hirschis general theory of crime has been extensively tested by researchers in the field of criminology, and measures of self-control have been shown to predict crime, delinquency, and deviance. With few exceptions, however, the theory has not been applied to the study of adolescent sexual behavior. Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and the Children of the NLSY79, this research explores the direct and indirect effects of parenting and self-control on adolescent sexual behavior. Self-control predicts engagement in sexual activity, the number of sex partners, and relationship to last sex partner. Self-control also mediates the relationship between certain parental behaviors and adolescent sexual behavior.

Child neglect and adolescent violence: examining the effects of self-control and peer rejection

Child maltreatment researchers have often suggested that experiences with child neglect have long-term, negative effects. Child neglect is thought to have particularly adverse effects on self-control, peer relations, and delinquency. In this research, we examine the relationship of child neglect with adolescent violence via self-control and peer rejection. Using prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample, we find that child neglect adversely affects peer rejection and violence. Neglected children were more likely to be rejected by their peers in early adolescence and were more likely to be violent later in adolescence. Contrary to theoretical predictions, child neglect was not a significant predictor of self-control. Implications for delinquency and child maltreatment researchers are discussed.

Examining intergenerational violence: violent role modeling or weak parental controls?

Family violence research has uncovered a positive relationship between parental violence and children’s later involvement in intimate violence. In a similar vein, criminology’s social control theory suggests that weak or absent parental controls are associated with a variety of delinquent acts. Little research, however, investigates the link between parental violence, parental controls, and dating violence. This article asks two research questions: How is interparental violence associated with parent-child attachments, monitoring, adolescent dating, attitudes toward violence, and dating violence? And second, are there independent and interactive effects of inter-parental violence, and parental controls on dating violence offending and attitudes towards violence? Dating violence offending is significantly associated with witnessed inter-parental violence, high dating frequency, and low parental monitoring. Attitudes towards violence are associated with witnessed inter-parental violence, lower parental attachment, and the interaction of witnessed inter-parental violence and parental attachment. The implications for role modeling and social control theory are discussed.

“I Just Want To Play”: Women, Sexism, and Persistence in Golf

Golf does not inherently privilege men or women physically, yet men are much more likely to participate in golf. The authors explore the institutional(e.g., societal level) and interactional barriers to women’s golf participation and uncover strategies women use to negotiate playing and persisting in golf. Guided by research on tokenism in occupations, statistical discrimination, and feminist research in the sociology of sport, the authors use 10 interviews with recreational women golfers to explore these issues. Similar to women in predominantly male occupations, the women in this study report heightened visibility and experiences with typecasting on the golf course. In addition, social closure operates in the form of unwelcoming courses; women reported feeling ignored, overlooked, or unimportant on the course. The authors discuss several strategies the women in the sample use to overcome sexism and persist in golf.

The Direct and Indirect Effects of Parental Bonds, Parental Drug Use, and Self-Control on Adolescent Substance Use

ABSTRACT Research indicates that parenting has important effects on adolescent substance use. However, the indirect effect of parenting on adolescent substance use via self-control is less understood. Gott-fredson and Hirschis General Theory of Crime has been extensively tested by researchers in the field of criminology, but the theory rarely has been used to predict adolescent substance use. Although Goffredson and Hirschi clearly assume that self-control is predicated on parenting, its mediating effect is rarely assessed. We find direct effects of self-control and maternal marijuana use on substance use and also find that self-control mediates the relationship between other parenting variables and adolescent substance use.

An analysis of the self-control and criminal versatility of gang and dating violence offenders.

How versatile are gang and dating violence offenders? Current gang research highlights the versatility of gang members, yet the versatility of intimate violence offenders is often unexamined. Gottfredson and Hirschi, A General Theory of Crime (1990), support the idea of versatile rather than specialized offenders and suggests that low self-control is associated with a host of criminal and noncriminal risk-taking activities. Using data from a self-report sample of 1139 youths in grades 9 through 11, we investigated both the versatility of gang and dating violence offenders and theoretical variables associated with each. We find disproportionate offending by dating and gang violence offenders in a variety of crimes, as well as considerable overlap in the independent variables associated with both types of violence. Low levels of self-control and exposure to general and crime-specific criminal opportunities are significantly associated with engaging in dating and gang violence.

Bingo!: Hints of Deviance in the Accounts of Sociability and Profit of Bingo Players

This study investigates the social construction of bingo players and bingo playing. Although gambling has largely maintained its deviant reputation, bingo, as a form of gambling, remains untainted by labels of deviance. We undertook a small ethnographic study of bingo playing in a Southwestern town. Because we had very little knowledge of bingo and bingo playing when we entered the field, our original research questions reflected the central concerns of how to play bingo, who plays bingo, and why people begin and continue playing bingo. We found that the bingo world contains a complex web of assumptions and practices surrounding who should win and how to win. Information from our informal interviews suggests that players begin playing and continue playing for the hope of winning and profit and to maintain friendship networks built through playing bingo. Four preliminary domains of analysis emerged from our data: the protocol of bingo playing; and winning; the culture and superstitions of bingo; fun, profit and bingo playing; and hints of deviance among bingo players. Each domain is critical in answering our question: What is bingo?

Child neglect, social context, and educational outcomes: examining the moderating effects of school and neighborhood context

Research on child neglect has found that neglected children are more likely to experience worse developmental outcomes than non-neglected children. These negative outcomes include antisocial behavior as well as poor school performance. Eco-developmental theory has found that adverse social contexts often worsen these outcomes for neglected and maltreated youths. However, little research has been done on the educational outcomes of neglected children and none of it has employed a national, longitudinal, community sample with an examination of social context. We do so in our research and find that several types of child neglect significantly predict a variety of poor educational outcomes at the bivariate level and that physical and educational neglect were significantly associated with a composite measure of school problems in multivariate analysis. We offer several explanations for our findings and future directions for research.

School Failure as an Adolescent Turning Point

Abstract Recently, researchers have devoted significant attention to the influence of turning points such as marriage, employment, and military service on criminal desistance in adulthood. Because offending peaks in adolescence, the relative lack of research on influential adolescent turning points is notable. Given the extensive research linking school failure to deleterious adult development, we propose that school failure (late grade retention and school dropout) is a marked transition in adolescence, with the potential to operate as a turning point in the life course. Using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), we first examine structural, relational, and individual predictors of school failure in adolescence. Second, we assess whether school failure amplifies delinquency in late adolescence. We find evidence supporting our contention that school failure operates as an adolescent turning point, and we confirm that school failure is significantly predicted by structural, relational, and individual factors. Although school failure may be thought of as the end result of a long-term process of academic disengagement, our research suggests that it is also a pivotal, negative turning point in the life course.

Gender Differences in Associations with Deviant Peer Groups: Examining Individual, Interactional, and Compositional Factors

Researchers have long known that boys are more likely to have deviant peers than are girls. Yet, little research has tried to explain why boys and girls differ in their decision to associate with deviant peers. With the salience of deviant peers well established as a robust predictor of delinquency, we address the question, are the predictors of association with deviant peers different for boys and girls? In our examination of family and community processes, individual effects, and peer group composition factors, we find that the predictors of association with deviant peers differ by gender. In addition, our findings suggest gender divergences in the causes of both deviant peer association and deviant peer pressure. We discuss the implications of our research for both theoretical development and appropriate model estimation.