Moving beyond the socialization hypothesis: The effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on the development of self-control

Purpose Gottfredson and Hirschi, in A General Theory of Crime, argue that the primary source of self-control is parental socialization. Specifically, parents who fail to supervise their children, to recognize their child's deviant behavior, and to punish such behavior are more likely to raise children with lower levels of self-control. Recent empirical research, however, has broadened the explanatory factors to include sources within schools, neighborhoods, and individual factors as significant contributors to the development of self-control. This study proposes that maternal smoking during pregnancy places additional limits on the development of self-control.Methods Using a subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (N = 542), we provide a comprehensive investigation of the variety of sources of self-control to include both individual and environmental covariates.Results Results indicate that maternal smoking during pregnancy significantly impacts the development of self-control net of parental, neighborhood, and school socialization. We also found that individual sources of self-control significantly vary across race and neighborhood context.Conclusions The sources of self-control are more complex than socialization from parents, schools, and within neighborhoods occurring in childhood and adolescence.