Showing papers by "Kathleen A. Fox published in 2015"

Disentangling Self-Control from Its Elements: A Bifactor Analysis

Abstract: Disentangle self-control from its elements and provide several new insights into the self-control dimensionality debate including: the proportion explained variance in scale items attributed to self-control and its elements, the viability of using total and individual scores to measure self-control and its elements in observed variable analyses, and the unique effects of general (self-control) and specific (elements) latent factors on crime and victimization. The current study utilizes bifactor measurement and structural equation models to address the research objectives. The sample consists of Florida jail inmates and self-control and its elements are measured with the Grasmick et al. scale. Results indicate the elements exist above and beyond the general factor of self-control, and that these specific factors collectively account for nearly one-third of the total proportion explained variance in the scale items. Findings from omega reliability analyses provide evidence supporting the use of a total score to measure self-control, but discouraging the use of subscales to measure the individual elements, when measurement error is not taken into account. Results from a bifactor structural equation model predicting crime and victimization reveal that the effects of three latent specific factors (temper, risk-seeking, and self-centeredness) are substantially larger than the effects of the general factor (self-control). Bifactor methods placed self-control and the elements on equal conceptual footing and found both to explain variation in Grasmick et al. item responses and both to influence crime and victimization. Future work should examine the origins and stability of self-control vis-a-vis the individual elements.

Violent Victimization Vulnerability: Testing a Conceptual Model of Personality, Social, and Community Factors

Abstract: The current study extends theories of crime to explain victimization by examining the direct effects of personality factors (low self-control), social factors (social bonds), and community factors (collective efficacy) on violent victimization. Next, we examine the effects of these theories indirectly through risky lifestyles to impact violent victimization. The proposed conceptual model is tested among a large national sample of youth (ages 12–16) from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data (Add Health). Self-control, social bonds, and collective efficacy impact violent victimization indirectly through their effects on risky lifestyles, including unstructured peer socialization, peer marijuana use, respondents’ own marijuana use, and violence. The proposed conceptual model was generally supported and future directions for research to test and enhance this conceptual model are considered

Gender, Low Self-Control, and Violent Victimization

Abstract: Prior research demonstrates that men generally experience higher levels of violent victimization relative to women. Using a high-risk sample of jail inmates, the present study draws on the core ideas from the self-control and societal norms toward the treatment of women literatures to examine the main and interactive effects of gender and self-control on violent victimization. Results indicate that gender and self-control both exhibit main effects on violent victimization net of control variables and that gender and self-control interact such that the gender gap in violent victimization disappears among men and women with low levels of self-control. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, policy, and future research.