UCLA School of Law

Purpose: To examine the effect of victimization on self-control.

Method: Five waves of data from the GREAT survey are analyzed; the effect of prior victimization on subsequent self-control is estimated using the dynamic panel generalized-method of moments.

Results: Victimization reduces subsequent self-control in the near term.

Conclusions: The findings point to another source of low self-control, help to explain why prior victimization is linked to subsequent victimization, and provide support for general strain theory – which predicts that strains such as victimization will reduce self-control.