The Gendered Expressions of Self-Control: Manifestations of Noncriminal Deviance Among Females

Abstract

The present study explores the relationships between Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) concept of low self-control and two forms of deviance more common among females than males, borderline personality characteristics and eating disorders. Ordinary least squares regression models revealed that self-control was significantly associated with both borderline personality characteristics and eating disorder symptoms among a sample of 161 female undergraduates. The findings of the present study highlight the potential utility in expanding our focus of the effects of low self-control beyond traditional analogous behaviors, especially when attempting to understand female behavior.

Notes

¹The link between low self-control and eating disorders here is not a “general” lack of control over oneself, but specifically Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) low self-control construct primarily defined by an inability to delay gratification or a lack of concern for later consequences, as well as a risk-seeking orientation.

²Factor analyses were conducted on the Grasmick scale, the PAI-BOR, the modified PAI-BOR, and the BULIT-R, forcing a one-factor solution on each measure. The majority of items loaded above .30 for each measure. However, to be cautious, regression models parallel to those reported here were estimated with revised versions of the measures (deleting all items loading below .40). The results were not substantively different from those reported, and, in fact, the relationships were actually stronger in many instances. This suggests that the relationships reported here may have been attenuated. Although using modified versions of these measures would be empirically supported and increase the strength of the observed relationships, we instead chose to use the measures as they have been employed in previous research for the purposes of consistency and comparability.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

³As a means of testing the true “gendered” nature of the dependent variables, the mean scores of males and females on the PAI-BOR, modified PAI-BOR, and BULIT-R were compared. Mean scores of females were higher than mean scores of males on all measures and a significant difference was found in the comparison of these scores on the BULIT-R.

**p < .01.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

⁴Independent effects of each of the facets of low self-control could not be assessed through multivariate analyses due to multicollinearity.

A version of this article was presented at the 2006 American Society of Criminology Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, November 1–4.