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This work provides an overview of the current state of research on Situational Action Theory (SAT). Studies that have examined core propositions of SAT within the period 2006 to 2015 are reviewed. The principal aim of this narrative review is to answer the following four questions: (1) Which hypotheses of SAT have been put to the test in empirical enquiries? (2) What does the empirical evidence say about these propositions? (3) Which statements of the theory have received little attention? (4) What are the consequences of the results for future enquiries? An overall finding of this review is that numerous studies have tested selected propositions of the theory using different methods, data and statistical procedures. A majority of these studies found some support for the hypotheses tested, but there are also a few studies that did not back key assumptions of the theory. The reasons for the divergent results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research note studies the interaction between the ability to exercise self-control and extremist moral beliefs with regard to the explanation of violent extremism. Although some evidence exists for the interaction between moral beliefs and self-control in the explanation of adolescent offending, no previous study has studied this interaction effect in a survey of young adults and with regard to politically or religiously motivated violence. This study therefore extends the existing literature by testing a key proposition of Situational Action Theory. We use a large-scale web survey of young adults in Belgium. The results support the hypothesis that the effect of the ability to exercise self-control is conditional upon one’s extremist beliefs. The results are stable across extremism-specific measures of extremist beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether deterrence and morality interact in the explanation of adolescent offending. On the basis of the Situational Action Theory, the author hypothesizes that deterrence is more effective in preventing offending among individuals with low levels of morality than among individuals with high levels of morality. To test this hypothesis, self-report data are used from a sample of young adolescents in Halmstad, Sweden (N = 891). The findings provide strong support for the hypothesis that the effect of deterrence (measured as the perceived risk of getting caught, that is, “certainty”) on offending is dependent on the individual’s level of morality, indicating that deterrence has a significantly stronger effect on offending for individuals with low levels of morality than for individuals with higher levels of morality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects on adolescent offending of lifestyle risk and the individual propensity to offend. It is assumed that lifestyle risk will have a more important effect on offending for those individuals with high levels of individual propensity, whereas for individuals with low levels of individual propensity it is assumed that a risky lifestyle will not, or will only marginally, influence their involvement in offending. The data are drawn from two different samples of young adolescents in Antwerp, Belgium (N = 2,486), and Halmstad, Sweden (N = 1,003). The data provide strong support for the hypothesis that the effect of lifestyle risk is dependent on the strength or weakness of individual propensity, indicating that lifestyle risk has a stronger effect on delinquency for individuals with a high propensity to offend. The similarity of the results across two independent samples suggests the findings are stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we will test one of the key assumptions of Situational Action Theory: that individuals' (law-relevant) morality is more fundamental to their crime involvement than their ability to exercise self-control. We specifically hypothesize that, for individuals with a strong morality, their capability to exercise self-control plays less of a role in their crime involvement than it does for individuals with a weak morality, whose capability to exercise self-control may substantially influence their engagement in crime. To test this hypothesis we use data from the Peterborough Youth Study (PYS), a cross-sectional survey of 1957 adolescents aged 14-15 from the UK city of Peterborough. The findings support the main hypothesis: young people with a strong (law-relevant) morality do not engage in crime, regardless of their ability to exercise self-control. However, among those with a weaker (law-relevant) morality, their ability to exercise self-control is an important factor in their crime involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether morality and self-control have an interactional effect on offending. Drawing from the situational action theory, the authors hypothesize that self-control has a more important effect on offending for individuals with low levels of morality than for individuals with high levels of morality. To test this hypothesis, self-report data were used from three independent samples of young adolescents in Antwerp, Belgium (N = 2,486); Halmstad, Sweden (N = 1,003); and South-Holland, the Netherlands (N = 1,978). The findings provide strong support for the hypothesis that the effect of self-control on offending is dependent on the individual's level of morality. The similarity of the results across three independent samples suggests that the findings are robust among different cultural backgrounds and among studies with different operationalizations of the central concepts of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explain individual differences in lifestyle risk. Lifestyle risk has previously been identified as a key social mechanism which has strong direct effects on juvenile offending. Building on statements derived from the Situational Action Theory (SAT), we test the assumptions that (1) family structure explains individual differences in lifestyle risk, (2) these effects are moderated by mechanisms of social control, and (3) the effects of mechanisms of control are moderated by the effect of propensity to offend (morality and self-control). It is assumed that this model holds in different population segments such as sub-populations by gender and ethnic background. Results from two independently drawn urban samples in Belgium and Sweden are used to discuss the generalization of these findings. Mixed support is found for the 'equality of effects' thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most cross-national studies of crime and violence explore variation in levels of crime without empirically addressing the causes of these variations. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of the situational action theory of crime causation (e.g. Wikström 2006), in this study we aim to explore and test whether the difference in levels of violence among young people in England and Sweden can be explained (fully or partly) by country differences in young people's crime propensities and lifestyles and their interaction. To achieve this we use data from the English Peterborough Youth Study and the Swedish Eskilstuna Youth Study. The findings show that in both cities (1) young people's self-reported violent behaviour is predicted by crime propensity and lifestyle, and their interaction, and (2) a substantial proportion (40 percent) of the difference in the level of violence vanishes when taking into account national differences in young people's crime propensity and lifestyles. We conclude that the findings support the notion that one major cause of the difference in the level of violence among young people in England and Sweden is that more young people in England have a higher crime propensity and are living criminogenic lifestyles than in Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]