There were two key findings. First, the strength of the relationship between self-control and delinquency was substantively weaker when maternal reports of self-control were used in lieu of adolescent reports of self-control. Second, a comprehensive measure of parental socialization - capturing dimensions of monitoring, hostility, and warmth - is strongly related to adolescent reported self-control, but only weakly related to maternal reported self-control. The findings thus indicate that conclusions about the strength of the link between self-control, delinquency, and parenting depend on the source of the measure of self-control. The findings indicate that maternal and adolescent reports of self-control cannot be used interchangeably in testing Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control construct in their general theory of crime. Future research that examines self-control theory should pay greater attention to the source of the measure of self-control and the implications of using different sources of self-control in interpreting findings of theoretical significance. Existing tests of self-control theory that use different information to measure self-control diverge in their findings. 5 tables, 8 notes, and 49 references