Explaining crime for a young adult population: An application of general strain theory

Most research informed by general strain theory (GST) concentrated on the young, particularly adolescents. Using data from the National Youth Survey (NYS) Wave 7, in which respondents were asked about their offending when they were ages twenty to twenty-nine, a model of young adult offending was estimated that incorporated variables reflecting strain, as well as control variables related to differential association and control theories and a lagged measure of offending to account for unmeasured dispositional factors. Results revealed that indicators of strain had significant effects on property and violent offending. In analyses of the role of depression, selected forms of strain were related to depression, and depression affected offending for males but not females. Taken as a whole, these findings demonstrated that GST, which was advanced as a general theory of crime, made an important contribution to the understanding of criminal offending among young adults.     

An examination of adult onset offending

The onset of offending received much research attention in criminology; however, the majority of research focused on juvenile offenders. As a consequence, little was known about the prevalence of and causes associated with adult onset. Using data from the Philadelphia portion of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project followed through the mid- to late thirties, this study focused on the prevalence of adult onset and the factors related to adult onset. Three key findings emerged from this study. First, females were less likely than males to be adult onset offenders. Second, participants who had mothers that smoked cigarettes during pregnancy were more likely to be adult onset offenders. Third, participants who had higher scores on the total battery score of the California Achievement Test (CAT) were less likely to be adult onset offenders. Limitations and future research directions are outlined.     

Personality features of an adolescent female offending population

The incidence of adolescent offending has been shown to be different for young males and females. However, there is a lack of literature concerning adolescent female offenders, and despite research suggesting that personality factors may be linked with antisocial and criminal behaviour in adolescents and young adults; there have been a lack of studies investigating intra-sex personality differences in young female populations. The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory, a 160-item self-report personality measure, was administered to 26 non-offending and 28 offending adolescent females. It was found that the offending group was significantly less submissive, less conforming, more forceful, more oppositional and more likely to exhibit borderline personality traits than the control group. The offending group also had higher reported incidences of childhood abuse and family conflict, and were more prone to substance abuse, impulsive actions and suicide ideation. These initial findings suggest that personality differences may well exist between offending and non-offending adolescent females.     

Adolescent maltreatment, negative emotion, and delinquency: An assessment of general strain theory and family-based strain

This study used data from a national sample of youth (N = 1,423) to test hypotheses derived from Robert Agnew's (1992, 2001) general strain theory concerning the relationship between adolescent maltreatment and delinquent behavior. Specifically, it focused on the extent to which the effect of maltreatment on general delinquency, serious delinquency, and substance use was mediated by negative emotions in the form of anger, anxiety, and depression. Results lend partial support to the theory. Confirming the importance of parent-child problems as a source of strain leading to delinquency, findings from ordinary least squares regression models revealed a significant association between maltreatment and all three forms of delinquent behavior. Although findings also showed that negative emotions are key intervening mechanisms influencing the magnitude of the direct effect of strain, maltreatment continued to exert significant effects even after controlling for negative emotions and both individual and family characteristics.     

Physical health and crime among low-income urban women: An application of general strain theory

Purpose

Although studies of General Strain Theory (GST) typically include measures of physical health in multi-item indices of strain, no work has investigated the independent influence of physical health on criminal offending. The current research explores the relationship between physical health and criminal offending among low-income women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Methods

Using data from the Welfare, Children, and Families (WCF) project, criminal behavior is predicted over two years with measures of physical health, depression, anxiety, competing strain, and relevant background factors.

Results

Poorer physical health at baseline and declines in physical health increase the odds of offending onset among previous non-offenders and reduce the odds of decreased offending among previous offenders. In offending onset models, higher levels of anxiety and depression at baseline and increases in these symptoms partially mediate the effect of poorer baseline health and fully mediate the effect of the loss of physical health. In decreased offending models, increases in anxiety and depression fully mediate the effect of poorer baseline health and partially mediate the effect of the loss of physical health.

Conclusions

The data suggest that poor health and declines in physical health influence both offending onset and offending escalation directly and indirectly through increases in anxiety and depression.     

From child maltreatment to violent offending: an examination of mixed-gender and gender-specific models

Research suggests that child maltreatment predicts juvenile violence, but it is uncertain whether the effects of victimization persist into adulthood or differ across gender. Furthermore, we know little about the mechanisms underlying the victim-perpetrator cycle for males and females. Consequently, this study analyzed associations between child maltreatment and a number of adult measures of violent offending within mixed-gender and gender-specific models. Along with main effects, the study directly tested the moderating effects of gender on the maltreatment-violence link and analyzed theory-informed gender-specific mediators. Data were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a panel investigation of 1,539 low-income minority participants born in 1979 or 1980. Child welfare, juvenile court, and criminal court records informed the study's explanatory and outcome measures. Prospectively collected covariate and mediator measures originated with parent, teacher, and self-reports along with several administrative sources. Results indicated that child maltreatment, ages 0 to 11, significantly predicted all study indicators of violence in the full sample and most study outcomes in the male and female subsamples. In no instance did gender moderate the maltreatment-violence association. Late childhood/early adolescence environmental instability, childhood externalizing behaviors, and adolescent peer social skills fully mediated the maltreatment-violence nexus among males. Adolescent externalizing behavior partially mediated the relationship of interest among females. Evidence also indicated that internalizing processes protected females who had been maltreated in childhood against perpetrating violence later in life. Implications of results are discussed.     

An empirical examination of adolescence-limited offending: A direct test of Moffitt's maturity gap thesis

Purpose

Provide the first direct test of Moffitt's (1993) hypothesis linking the maturity gap with adolescent delinquency.

Methods

Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and a direct measure of the maturity gap was constructed. Negative binomial regression models—survey-corrected to account for the Add Health research design—were estimated.

Results

Consistent with Moffitt's theory, the results of the analyses revealed that the maturity gap was predictive of minor forms of delinquency and drug use but not of more serious types of offending behaviors for males. Findings were less supportive of Moffitt's hypothesis for females.

Conclusions

Moffitt's maturity gap thesis is a viable explanation of adolescent delinquency, especially for males. This portion of the theory, which has largely gone unexamined, warrants further inquiry from criminologists.     

A comparative analysis of general strain theory

Purpose

Since its introduction in 1992, general strain theory (GST) has garnered much empirical support. The large share of this support, however, derives from studies conducted in the United States. There is little comparative research on GST, particularly research that examines the effect of the same or similar strains on crime across countries. Thus, we know little about the generalizability of GST. This study attempts to fill this gap by testing GST in five different cities across Europe: Bucharest in Romania, Sofia in Bulgaria, Riga in Latvia, Kaunas in Lithuania and Reykjavik in Iceland.

Methods

We examine the relationship between five strain measures and violent- and property crime among samples of adolescents in each city using regression techniques.

Results

The data are generally supportive of GST, with most of the strains having significant associations with property and violent crime in all or most of the cities.

Conclusion

GST is generalizable to a range of European cities. Implications and examples for future comparative research on GST are discussed.     

General strain theory and the development of stressors and substance use over time: An empirical examination

Little research has examined whether General Strain Theory (GST) can account for continuity in illicit behavior over their time. The current study fills this void by testing the ability of GST to account for the association between adolescent and adult substance use. Four mechanisms that Agnew argues lead to behavioral continuity—a direct effect of negative emotionality and low constraint on substance use, evocative and active selection, passive selection, and stressor amplification—are examined using structural equation modeling. Drawing from the broader stress literature, an additional pathway—stress proliferation—is also tested. This research uses two unique datasets, which together provide information on the lives of high risk individuals from birth through adulthood. Support for GST explanations of continuity is mixed. The direct and moderating effects of negative emotionality and low constraint as well as the more dynamic aspects of the stress process, like proliferation and amplification, received the most empirical support. It is argued that more attention should be directed to exploring the social processes through which stressors develop over time.     

Perceived injustice and delinquency: A test of general strain theory

Purpose

While a growing body of empirical literature supports many key predictions of General Strain Theory (GST), the subjective perception of injustice remains a theoretically important but empirically under-researched type of strain. The present study therefore examines the relations among perceived injustice, anger, and rule-violation.

Methods

Using a sample of middle- and high-school students from 12 schools in Southern New Hampshire, the present study tests GST via a series of OLS, negative binomial, and structural equation analyses using a more precise measure of perceived injustice than prior work and extensive statistical controls for such variables as self-control, differential association, attitudes toward delinquency, and alternative strain measures in a longitudinal context.

Results

Results yield strong support for the notions that perceived injustice promotes delinquency and that this relationship is mediated by situational anger.

Conclusions

Perceived injustice appears to be an important type of strain that should be incorporated into future research and addressed by future delinquency prevention efforts.     

Life strain, negative emotions, and delinquency: An empirical test of general strain theory in the People's Republic of China

Using a sample of 615 middle school and high school students from both rural and urban areas of the People's Republic of China, this study tests the central hypotheses concerning the mediating model in Agnew's general strain theory. The analyses focus on the intervening mechanisms of negative emotions such as anger, resentment, anxiety, and depression that connect exposure to interpersonal strain with delinquent outcomes, including both serious delinquency and minor offenses. The results show that anger mediates the effect of interpersonal strain on violence, resentment mediates the effect of interpersonal strain on nonviolent delinquency, and anxiety and depression have a mediating effect on the relationships between interpersonal strain and minor offenses. The findings are generally consistent with the results of earlier studies in the United States.     

The influence of occupational strain on organizational commitment among police: A general strain theory approach

Purpose

Using a General Strain Theory (GST) framework, this study examines the role of various strains on officers’ organizational commitment to their agencies. In addition, the mediating effect of negative affect is investigated.

Methods

A total of 180 law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies in the Northern Kentucky area were surveyed.

Results

Two strains, the failure to achieve positively valued goals and the removal positively valued stimuli, significantly predicted greater negative affect. Negative affect did not serve as a mediating variable between strain and officers’ commitment to the department. The failure to achieve positively valued goals, the removal of positive stimuli, and the two measures of presentation of noxious stimuli all significantly and directly influenced an officer's commitment to the agency after controlling for negative affect.

Conclusions

GST is a viable theoretical framework in which to study organizational commitment among police officers as various strains have been shown to result in officers being less committed to their police agencies. Consequently, policies that attempt to alleviate those strains or stressors commonly faced by officers can increase the dedication and possibly the job performance of America's law enforcement officials.     

Toward a control theory of white-collar offending

In this study, Hirschi's control theory was conceptually developed and empirically tested as a rationale for white-collar offending. The data were gathered from a sample of 435 executives who were employees of a multinational automobile manufacturer. Results suggest that factors within the corporation such as managerial attachments, work commitment and involvement, and belief in corporate rules significantly affect individual rates of executive self-reported offending. In particular, those executives who possessed the strongest bond to their manager, their co-workers, and the corporation itself were least likely to report having engaged in a white-collar crime. Theoretical implications of these findings and how they relate to extant theories of white-collar criminality are discussed.Portions of this paper were presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Montreal, November 16, 1987.     

General strain and delinquency: An alternative examination of conditioning influences

One of the key assumptions of Agnew's general strain theory (GST) is that various factors condition the effect of strain on delinquency. Past research examining this question, however, has not revealed consistent support for this hypothesis. The accumulating negative evidence on the conditioning hypothesis suggests that the theory may need to be revised or, alternatively, that past studies simply were unable to uncover valid relationships because of the analytical methods employed. In the current examination, we use data from the National Youth Survey and contingency table analyses to examine whether the strain-delinquency relationship is conditioned by various risk factors such as exposure to delinquent peers, holding deviant beliefs, and having a behavioral propensity toward delinquency. The results reveal both cross-sectional and longitudinal support for the conditioning hypothesis derived from GST. Implications for future research on GST are discussed.     

Foster youth and crime: Employing general strain theory to promote understanding

Purpose

Despite the growing research evidence into vulnerability, disadvantage, and poor outcomes for young people leaving foster care, relatively little attention has been paid to our understanding of criminal engagement. The present study contributes to our understanding of this process by drawing on general strain theory (GST) to examine how specific forms of strain may lead to crime among foster youth.

Methods

Data from a national study of post-care foster youth in England are examined using robust logistic regression analysis, and a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews. Logistic regression was applied to conduct a simultaneous analysis of main and interaction effects of strains and conditioning variables on crime involvement among foster youth. Thematic analysis was utilised to explore themes for explaining the quantitative findings.

Results

Strains such as unemployment, school exclusion, length of time in care and instability of placement were significant predictors for involvement in criminal activity among foster youth. Conditioning factors, namely self-esteem and life skills acquired prior to leaving care, tend to mediate the relationship between these strains and criminal involvement. In-depth qualitative evidence further reinforced the effects of strains and conditional nature of the strains-crime relationship among foster youth.

Conclusions

The findings demonstrate the utility of employing GST in studies of foster youth, and they suggest implications for youth services and other foster youth programmes.     

The relationship between injustice and crime: A general strain theory approach

Purpose

Connect General Strain Theory (GST) and the organizational justice literature by examining how different types and combinations of major forms of injustice (distributive, procedural, and interactional), and resultant anger, may increase the likelihood that individuals respond to strain with crime.

Method

Logit and OLS regressions are used to analyze survey data obtained from a vignette that was randomly assigned to a sample of undergraduates. The vignette presented a distributive injustice and manipulated the additional presence of procedural and interactional injustice. Respondents rated their likelihood of intending to engage in a violent act and a non-violent deviant act.

Results

As expected, multiple types of injustice foster the intention of responding to injustice with crime. In addition to a distributive injustice, the presence of procedural injustice predicts violence, while interactional injustice predicts excessive drinking. Moreover, anger mediates the injustice-crime relationship, although this effect is more substantial for the association between procedural injustice and violence.

Conclusions

The relationship between injustice and crime is complex. Different forms of injustice can affect the propensity for crime through anger. Further research is encouraged to identify the criminogenic potential of certain types of combinations of injustice on the experience of negative emotions and crime.     

Strain and violence: Testing a general strain theory model of community violence

Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST) has come to be recognized as an increasingly important explanation for violence at the individual level. Drawing on this individual level theory, Agnew [Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 36 (1999) 123] recently suggested that GST might also be applicable to explaining variations in community crime rates. This macro level General Strain Theory (MST) has, however, rarely been empirically examined. This article provides an examination of some of the central ideas in Agnew's MST using data from sixty-six neighborhoods in a southern state. The findings presented here suggest that neighborhood disadvantage and stability significantly affect neighborhood levels of strain. In turn, strain significantly affects levels of violence. The extent to which the effects of strain on violence are conditioned by levels of informal social control and social support/capital are also examined in this article. The results are partially supportive of MST.     

Violent victimization and involvement in delinquency: Examining predictions from general strain theory

In a recent critique and elaboration of general strain theory, Agnew (2001) argued that criminal victimization might be among the most consequential strains experienced by adolescents, and therefore might be an important cause of delinquency. Few studies to date, however, had examined victimization as a potential cause—rather than outcome—of delinquency. This article addresses this void by examining predictions from general strain theory about the effects of victimization on later involvement in delinquency. The analyses indicated that violent victimization significantly predicted later involvement in delinquency, even when controlling for the individual's earlier involvement in delinquency. Moreover, general strain theory appears to be a useful theoretical framework for examining this relationship. The effects of victimization on delinquency were explained in part by its effects on anger (the key intervening variable specified by the theory). Partial support also emerged for the theory's hypothesis that the effects of strain should be conditional upon other factors. Specifically, the effects of victimization were marginally greater for juveniles with weak emotional attachment to their parents and significantly greater for those low in self-control.     

Strain, coping mechanisms, and slavery: a general strain theory application

General strain theory (GST) is a framework for understanding how strain, or psychological adversity, affects individuals, and how these individuals cope with strain. Researchers have generally used the theory to study contemporary crime and deviance. However, GST offers a more general perspective for the study of strain that apply to other contexts. This paper examines applicability of GST to African-American experiences during slavery in order to determine the relevance of the theory to an historical context and to shed light onto that context. Relying on primary and secondary sources from the historical record, I argue that slaves in America experienced the types of strain outlined in GST, showing how these strains affected individuals. Moreover, during the ante-bellum period, African Americans appear to have utilized the same coping strategies and resources found in GST, which helps to illustrate how and why such coping strategies were used. As a result, GST is able to offer insights into a historical context – an application of the theory neither researchers in the criminological, nor the historical literature have explored. Implications for the application of GST in other situations of confinement (e.g., the prison) are discussed.

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Developmental trajectories of nonsocial reinforcement and offending in adolescence and young adulthood: An exploratory study of an understudied part of social learning theory

Purpose

Within social learning theory, nonsocial reinforcement has been hypothesized to have a link with offending. The purpose of the present study was to address two questions: (1) Does nonsocial reinforcement change or remain stable over time? And (2) does nonsocial reinforcement have a reciprocal link with offending, as Wood et al. (1997) would expect?

Methods

We used a subsample (N = 413) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data and semi-parametric group-based modeling (SPGM).

Results and Conclusions

The SPGM suggested three distinct groups of nonsocial reinforcement (one trajectory group appeared to have a low but stable rate of nonsocial reinforcement, one trajectory appeared to be higher but stable, another trajectory higher but also stable). A cross-tabulation of the nonsocial reinforcement trajectories and offending trajectories indicated that offending increased as nonsocial reinforcement became greater. Study limitations and implications are also discussed.