THE FAMILY → LOW SELF-CONTROL → DEVIANCE A Cross-Cultural and Cross-National Test of Self-Control Theory

The current investigation examined the predictive strength of family processes (closeness, support, and monitoring) both for low self-control and for a variety of deviance measures based on data from youth in seven different cultural and national groups (N = 8,997) from Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States (nonrural high school, rural high school in the “Black Belt,” and university students). Findings from multigroup structural equation modeling analyses provided consistent support for highly similar patterns of associations among family processes, low self-control, and deviance measures across groups. In addition, they also indicated that family processes had both direct and indirect effects, through low self-control, on deviance. Together, family processes and low self-control explained between 25% and 36% of the variance in deviance across samples, net the effects by age, sex, family structure, and socioeconomic status.