Age, self-control, and adults' offending behaviors:: A research note assessing A General Theory Of Crime

This article examined empirically whether Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) "general theory" explained criminal and imprudent behaviors among a community sample of adults across the age distribution. The findings indicated that low self-control was significantly related with both forms of self-reported offending activity through age fifty. Gottfredson and Hirschi's claim that their theory explained offending across age, therefore, was generally supported. It is suggested that future empirical tests employ the "general theory" as a causal explanation of adult criminality. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.