Parenting and Children's Self-Control: Concurrent and Longitudinal Relations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact parenting has on the development of self-control, both before and after the general theory of crime suggests self-control is established. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, longitudinal data from mothers with children ages 8–9 and 12–13 were analyzed via structural equation modeling. Results demonstrated an overall environment of effective parenting is associated with (1) self-control before and after it is theoretically established and (2) parenting constructs outside the conceptualization of the theory. Further, the stability of self-control may matter more than parenting in the longitudinal development of self-control.