Title
Building the Foundation for a Side-by-Side Explanatory Model: A General Theory of Crime, the Age-Graded Life Course Theory, and Attachment Theory
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1999
Abstract
A general theory of crime and the age-graded life-course theory are considered disparate explanatory models of the development of criminal behavior. However, both can be linked in a side-by-side fashion utilizing John Bowlby's theory of attachment. Early theoretical work by Travis Hirschi and Delbert Elliott discussed the necessity of theoretical integration to more thoroughly explain multiple pathways leading to deviance without reconciling divergent theoretical assumptions. Using a longitudinal sample of four hundred and eleven men, this research finds that self-control is not a time stable trait and that attachments to coworkers in early adulthood act as constraints on low self-control, leading to desistance.
Recommended Citation
Western Criminology Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, January 1999.