ABSTRACT
Causes of Delinquency inspired a great deal of research, but to this point no one has attempted a systematic replication of Hirschi’s study. In 1997, Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson collected data designed to replicate Hirschi’s original Richmond study in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This chapter presents an analysis of some of the key variables Hirschi included in his study. We present side-by-side comparisons of some cross tabulation analyses of the full Richmond and Fayetteville samples, and also present the results of multivariate analyses designed to test social control theory as a whole. Despite some important differences in sample composition, the similarity in patterns of empirical associations across the two data sets is striking. Thus, Hirschi’s major findings are successfully replicated in the Fayetteville sample.
