ABSTRACT
The operationalization of self-control, the key concept in Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime, has been a debated issue since they advocated the theory. The measure most widely adopted to test the theory to date is Grasmick scale (Grasmick, Tittle, Bursik, & Arneklev, 1993). In 2004, Hirschi criticized this scale from a theoretical point of view and proposed a new scale of self-control (Hirschi, 2004). However, there exist too few empirical studies to properly assess Hirschi (2004)’s suggestion. There are three aims in this study: (1) To develop and test Hirschi’s (2004) measure of self-control in the same manner as was initially proposed; (2) to create and employ an outcome variable based on the underlying assumptions of the theory; and (3) to use the measure to extend the general theory of crime to a setting outside western settings. Using the data collected from five middle schools in Japan (n=826), the theory’s applicability to Japan is confirmed.
