Hedonic calculus: Does self restraint desire matter?

Tittle, Ward, and Grasmick (2004) developed the idea of "self-control desire" as a key in understanding variability in crime and deviance, above and beyond low self-control (ability). The current study investigated the interplay between self-control ability, self-control desire, and deviance. Both self-control ability and self-control desire had independent effects on a variety of deviance measures; in addition, the interactive effects between the two were also significant. Results also indicate that the measure of self-control desire is composed of two different dimensions, namely punishment-avoiding self-control desire, a construct that shares conceptual similarities with perceived sanctions, and reward-seeking self-control desire. The independent and interactive effects of punishment-avoiding self-control desire and self-control ability on deviance were supported in the current study. However, reward-seeking self-control desire was unrelated to deviance once the effects by punishment-avoiding self-control desire and self-control ability were controlled. Follow-up analyses on the interaction effects indicate that the relationships between self-control ability and deviance were weaker for people with higher levels of self-control desire; in addition, the effects by self-control ability were not significant at high levels of self-control desire. Similarly, self-control ability was also found to attenuate the relationships between self-control desire and deviance; self-control desire did not predict deviance at high levels of self-control ability.