Overlooked in the extensive literature on self-control theory are propositions with respect to street gangs. In Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) perspective, gangs are loose confederations of youth with low self-control and their criminological relevance is attributable to “politics and romance” rather than to rigorous empirical research. Prior research is limited by the use of cross-sectional data, which takes on added importance in light of recent findings on self-control instability. Using six waves of panel data from a large sample of youth, we test three propositions: gang membership is endogenous to self-control (selection), self-control is unrelated to gang membership (stability), and self-control confounds the well-established link between gang membership and delinquency (spuriousness). The main findings from stabilized inverse propensity-weighted multilevel structural equation models are that 1) self-control is one, but not the only, source of selection into gangs; 2) levels of self-control worsen during active periods of gang membership; and 3) gang membership maintains a direct association with delinquency, as well as an indirect association operating through self-control. The empirical evidence does not support reinterpreting gangs in self-control perspective, instead pointing to the continued relevance of the group context to criminology.

中文翻译：

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选择、稳定性和虚假性：测试 Gottfredson 和 Hirschi 从自我控制的角度重新解释街头帮派的命题*

在大量关于自我控制理论的文献中忽略了与街头帮派有关的命题。在 Gottfredson 和 Hirschi (1990) 的观点中，帮派是自控力低的松散青年联盟，它们的犯罪学相关性归因于“政治和浪漫”而不是严格的实证研究。先前的研究受到使用横截面数据的限制，鉴于最近关于自我控制不稳定性的发现，横截面数据变得更加重要。使用来自大量青年样本的六波面板数据，我们测试了三个命题：加入帮派与自我控制（选择）内生，自我控制与加入帮派（稳定性）无关，自我控制混淆了良好的 -在帮派成员和犯罪（虚假）之间建立了联系。稳定逆倾向加权多层次结构方程模型的主要发现是：1）自我控制是选择加入帮派的一个但不是唯一的来源；2）在帮派活跃期，自我控制水平变差；3) 帮派成员与犯罪有直接联系，也有通过自我控制的间接联系。经验证据不支持从自我控制的角度重新解释帮派，而是指出群体背景与犯罪学的持续相关性。以及通过自我控制运作的间接关联。经验证据不支持从自我控制的角度重新解释帮派，而是指出群体背景与犯罪学的持续相关性。以及通过自我控制运作的间接关联。经验证据不支持从自我控制的角度重新解释帮派，而是指出群体背景与犯罪学的持续相关性。