Testing Control Theory and Differential Association: A Causal Modeling Approach
作者重新分析了里士满青少年项目中的 delinquency 数据，这些数据曾被 Hirschi (1969) 和 Jensen (1972) 用来支持控制理论、否定 Sutherland 的差异交往理论。作者指出，Sutherland 理论中的关键变量，学习到的有利于违法与不利于违法行为模式的比率，可以通过明确建模其测量误差结构来操作化。基于这一策略，作者检验了从差异交往理论推导出的具体假设，结果发现差异交往理论比控制理论得到更多支持。具体而言，代表学习行为模式比率的不可观测构念成功中介了模型中其他变量对 delinquency 的影响。
A number of strong theoretical statements have been based on analyses of delinquency data from the Richmond Youth Project. Hirschi (1969) and Jensen (1972), in particular, found that Hirschi's control theory was empirically supported over Sutherland's theory of differential association. This paper reanalyzes these data and reassesses this negative evidence pertaining to differential association theory. It is shown that the ratio of learned behavior patterns favorable and unfavorable to violation of legal codes, the critical variable in Sutherland's theory, can be operationalized by explicitly modeling its measurement error structure. In turn, this allows the testing of specific hypotheses derived from the theory. The analysis based on this strategy finds differential association theory supported over control theory. Specifically, the unobservable construct representing the ratio of learned behavior patterns successfully mediates the effects on delinquency of the model's other variables.