Can differences in attachment to parents and level of self-control explain the gender gap in juvenile delinquency? Testing a genderedattachment-self-control theory

That boys are more likely to offend than girls is a well-established finding in contemporary criminology; however, few theoretical perspectives directly focus on explaining this gap. In 2002, Hayslett- McCall and Bernard introduced a new perspective, the gendered attachment-self-control theory, designed to explain the gender difference in criminal involvement. The theory posits that boys experience moredisruptions in early attachments to primary caregivers, which leads to them developing less self-control and, consequently, a higher propensity to offend. This study assesses this perspective, which to date has been empirically neglected, using survey data from Austria. With boys reporting more crime and lower levels of both self-control and attachment to the mother than girls, and strong attachment to the mother being linked to weak self-control as well as low self-control predicting criminal behavior, the results provide some support for the theory.