Parenting Styles and Future Criminal Behavior

Parenting Styles and Future Criminal Behavior

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 and 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 and Simon, 1997).

Discussion

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.

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 ...