Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: Self-Control Theory (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990) proposes that the self-control-deviance link should be largely invariant across different developmental contexts; in fact, ecological contexts “beyond families,” such as the school context, should have limited impact on the development of self-control or on the self-control-deviance link. The invariance of the self-control-deviance link across contexts and the stability of self-control have been supported in empirical studies (e.g., Vazsonyi et al., 2006; Hay & Forrest; 2006); however, little work has been conducted on potential school effects, largely related to sampling and data analytic issues. Using multi-level analysis, the current study tested (1) to what extent classroom-level variability exists in adolescent deviance; (2) whether low self-control accounts for individual-level and classroom-level variance of deviance; (3) whether classroom contexts (i.e., classroom-level self-control ability, urbanicity, educational structure, classroom immigrant composition, and classroom mean SES level) predict adolescent deviance, controlling for the effect of self-control ability. Preliminary findings indicate that 5.5% of the deviance variance exists between schools. In addition, “individual” low self-control accounts for both individual-level and school-level variance of deviance. Nevertheless, urbanicity, educational structure as well as mean classroom low self-control each significantly predicted deviance and explained over 4% of level 2 variance.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Control balance tests have primarily focused on whether control balance ratios can predict specific deviant acts (e.g., Curry & Piquero, 2003; Hickman & Piquero, 2001; Hickman et al., 2001; Piquero & Hickman, 1999, 2002). The only tests of control balance theory’s propositions regarding the causes of general deviance are Curry’s (2001) and Bossler’s (2006) dissertations which found partial support. These two dissertations used more limited measures of general deviance. This paper assesses the effects of general control balance ratios and specific realm control ratios, using both the Piquero-Hickman (1999) and Bossler (2006) methods to measure control ratios, on a 40-item deviance measure.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Feminist scholars have noted that recent policy developments in the arena of intimate association are examples of contradictory trends in state regulation of families and intimate life (Fraser 1997, Mink 1998, Smith 2001). On the one hand, in redistributive policy areas such as public benefits for low-income families, the state has been reducing its support for families. On the other hand, the state has increased its intervention in the realms related to sexuality and the regulation of morality through laws such as the Defense of Marriage Acts (at federal and state levels) and the marriage incentives, family caps, and abstinence-only sex education funding in welfare law.
This paper uses these feminist lenses to examine the social control and coercion of those who receive government benefits, and especially the control of women and men receiving TANF or whose children receive TANF. I focus on the current debate over the re-authorization of the 1996 welfare law, and proposals to extend state control over women who receive TANF benefits through the further extension of marriage incentives. The paper will examine H.R. 4, the current proposal for reauthorizing the TANF program, in particular with respect to provisions for marriage promotion. The paper argues that programs such as the marriage promotion and abstinence-only sex education initiatives in H.R. 4 construct low-income women and men as both gender role deviants and as sexual deviants, the latter because they are failed heterosexuals. Thus, the paper uses the TANF program as an example of state coercion and the justification for such coercion for groups targeted due to gender, race, class, benefit status, and perceptions regarding sexual deviancy. It suggests that these policies focus our attention on individuals as pathological and deviant, and make invisible many salient aspects of contemporary poverty. In turn this focus justifies coercive treatment of these individuals based on their constructed status as deviants.
Families and intimate association are matters that have both public and private dimensions in democratic polities. Ultimately these claims are about the nature of the political community and the extent to which it is responsive to claims regarding the unjust treatment of members and the exclusion of individuals and groups from the political process; thus, they are about the inclusion of all members in democratic decision-making. The coercive shaming of people who are the target of policies such as TANF acts as a justification for policies that actually harm the people they are purportedly providing with assistance.

Publication Type: Roundtable
Abstract: A growing body of literature finds an inverse association between religiosity and several types of deviant behavior. Although studies of adolescents form the bulk of this literature, their results may not necessarily pertain to adults for at least two reasons. First, religion may have more impact in adolescence, which is an impressionable time, than in later life. Second, studies of adolescents may exaggerate religion’s influence because adolescents’ religiosity may reflect parental attachment and desires. This study uses pooled samples of the General Social Survey to examine the relationship between a multidimensional measure of religiosity and involvement in the following behaviors: viewing pornography on the Internet, adultery, engaging in sex for money, and engaging in sex before marriage. Findings are reported separately for women and men and for both sexes combined. Final remarks address the theoretical importance of the findings and outline areas for further research.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Emotional Deviance: One Pathway to Entering a Support Group

In examining the issues pertaining to emotional deviance, Thoits suggests seeking out similar others as a means of reducing the self-condemnation associated with perceiving oneself as emotionally deviant (1990). Victimized individuals may feel motivated by their deviant feelings to join support groups where such feelings may be validated and normalized; thus, social support serves as the mechanism through which people learn to accept and understand their feelings (Thoits, 1990). Support groups show members that the actual experience for undergoing a life threatening experience has a particular normative quality oftentimes incompatible with popular perceptions (Thoits, 1990). In lieu of the understanding that comes from personal experience, people are apt to accept the broader social norm however unjust or inaccurate simply because they do not know any better.
Situated in the literature on emotional deviance, emotion managment, and stress and coping, this paper seeks to document the process through which individuals come to experience themselves as emotionally and cognitively deviant. It will also document how these occurrences lead victimized individuals to seek entrance in formal support groups.