Low Self-Control and Environmental Harm: A Theoretical Perspective and Empirical Test
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Low Self-Control and Environmental Harm: A Theoretical Perspective and Empirical Test Raymond D. Partin 1 & Nevena Stojakovic 1 & Mohammed Alqahtani 1 & Ryan C. Meldrum 1 & Stephen F. Pires 1 Received: 23 August 2019 / Accepted: 18 December 2019/ # Southern Criminal Justice Association 2020
Abstract Research finds low self-control is associated with a myriad of delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behaviors. Less attention, however, has been directed at investigating whether low self-control is related to environmental harm. The current study contributes to this area of research in two ways. First, we explicate why low self-control would relate to environmental harms committed by individuals. Second, using data collected on a sample of approximately 500 adults from southeastern Florida, we test whether low self-control is associated with the specific environmental harm of littering. Results indicate low self-control increases the likelihood of both past littering behavior as well as projected littering behavior. Supplementary analyses demonstrate low self-control is associated with higher frequency littering but not lower frequency littering. Discussion centers on the implications of the findings, study limitations, and a call for additional research to investigate the association between low self-control and a broader array of environmental harms. Keywords Low self-control . General theory of crime . Environmental harm .
Environmental crime . Littering
* Raymond D. Partin [email protected] Nevena Stojakovic [email protected] Mohammed Alqahtani [email protected] Ryan C. Meldrum [email protected] Stephen F. Pires [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
American Journal of Criminal Justice
Introduction A prodigious body of research supports the primary claim in Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) A General Theory of Crime of an inverse association between self-control and antisocial behavior. Multiple reviews and meta-analyses make evident low self-control is associated with violence, property offending, substance use, and a myriad of other behaviors analogous to crime (Hay and Meldrum 2015; Pratt 2016; Pratt and Cullen 2000; Vazsonyi et al. 2017). Yet, for all the attention directed at investigating the association between low self-control and antisocial behavior, important knowledge gaps remain. In particular, little attention has been directed at investigating whether low self-control is associated with environmental harms committed by individuals.1 Described by Shover and Routhe (2005), such behaviors are, “…diverse both in nature and in the harm they cause. They include littering, improper disposal of radioactive materials, taking game out of season, intentional discharge of hazardous substances into storm drains or waterways, and theft of flora, fauna, and natural resources” (p. 323). While much has been learned about harms against the environment over the past several decades (e.g., Lynch and Pires 2019ab; Sollund and Brisman 2017), some have argued that criminologis
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