Law-abiding orientation: An empirical test of the construct

Abstract

The article focuses on psychological diagnostics of law-abiding orientation of youth. It discusses social and scientific relevance of the study, describes cognitive, emotional and behavioral contexts of law-abiding orientation and explores its five identified components. The article is based on the assumption about various regulatory mechanisms of law-abiding behavior and offers a hypothesis about its theoretical structure. It also provides an empirically tested model of the construct. The empirical study aimed to verify the construct. The data were collected using a specially designed questionnaire. It included 50 statements grouped into five scales corresponding to the theoretical model. The hypothesis was tested with exploratory factor analysis (minimum X2 method, oblimin rotation). The consistency of the statements was also checked. Bartlett’s and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin’s criteria were used to check the validity. The study sample included 840 people (mean age 25.4 years, of which males = 90.4%). The sample was divided into two subgroups: lawabiding persons (n=430) and persons under administrative supervision (n=410). The study resulted in the development of a two-factor empirical structure. The first factor includes value and volitional components of orientation to law-abiding behavior. The second factor includes social and emotional-evaluative components. The revised construct of the questionnaire consists of two components: (a) the value of law-abiding lifestyle and a principled desire to follow the law; (b) unwillingness to cause doubts in others about one’s law-abiding behavior and a negative attitude to crime. Follow-up theoretical research may focus on the identification of specific differences in the content of law-abiding orientation. In terms of methodology, the study may access predictive validity and outline the possibilities of using the methodology to prevent criminalization of youth.