Testing the Spuriousness Thesis in a Czech Longitudinal Study: A Research Note

The present study revisits the spuriousness thesis part of self-control theory, namely whether Big Five personality traits are uniquely and additively associated with developmental changes in deviance, net the effects by low self-control. Longitudinal data were collected as part of the Brno Longitudinal Study of Youth (BLSY) from 6 and 7th-grade students in the Czech Republic. A total of N = 572 adolescents (58.4% female; Mage = 12.34 years) participated in the study and were followed over the course of three assessments, 6 months apart. Two competing models were tested. Model 1 tested whether Time 1 Big Five traits predicted developmental changes in Time 3 deviance, net the effects of Time 1 low self-control (operationalized by two measures of impulsivity), whereas Model 2 tested whether Time 1 low self-control predicted developmental changes in Time 3 deviance net the effects of Time 1 Big Five Traits. Findings based on competing structural equation models with latent constructs provided empirical support for Model 2 but not Model 1. Thus, low self-control uniquely predicted developmental changes in deviance over time, net the effects by Big Five traits; however, Big Five traits did not uniquely predict developmental changes in deviance, net the effects by low self-control. Thus, study findings provide important empirical evidence supporting the original spuriousness thesis part of self-control theory.