Low Self-Control and Bullying: The Applicability of the General Theory of Crime

• In Event: Theoretical Investigations into Bullying and Delinquency

Abstract

Bullying frequently occurs among youth, and is associated with many negative lifelong consequences. The large body of research on bullying tends to treat it as a unique phenomenon, but the criminological literature has highlighted that many of the same factors and characteristics predicting bullying involvement apply to other forms of deviance. This suggests that bullying is neither new nor distinct, and is simply another manifestation of a propensity towards deviant behavior, and that the vast body of knowledge on crime and deviance should be equally applicable to bullying. Using data from a nationally representative school-based sample of American adolescents, I examine the effectiveness of self-control as a predictor of a number of deviant behaviors (bullying, property crime, violent crime, other crime, and substance abuse). This allows me to determine the effectiveness of self-control as an explanation of bullying, and identify any similarities and differences in the effects of self-control. By doing so, I will be able to determine if bullying is simply another manifestation of criminality, and if not, to determine the ways in which bullying is unique. This research contributes to both the criminological and bullying literatures by demonstrating the strengths of criminological theories in understanding bullying.

Author

• Chris Esselmont, University of Calgary