NCJ Number
170941
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1997) Pages: 46-78
Date Published
1997
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This study elaborates Agnew's general strain model by assessing the sex-specific effects of stressful life events on delinquency and drug use, using two waves of data from 11- to 17- year-old adolescents who participated in the High Risk Youth Study (n = 803).
Abstract
Agnew's reconceptualization of individual-level strain theory has suggested several ways in which stress among adolescents affects delinquent behavior; however, the general stress literature from which much of Agnew's theory is drawn indicates that gender influences the effects of stress on various outcomes among adolescents. The data used to test the hypotheses were from 2 years (1992-94) of the High Risk Youth Study, a longitudinal study designed to assess how parental risk factors (substance abuse disorder, affective disorder) affect adolescent substance use, deviant behavior, and mental health. The study was concerned primarily with four latent variables, each measured two times at 1-year time intervals: life events, attachment, delinquency, and drug use. The findings of a structural equation model show that there are few significant gender differences; stressful life events have a similar, short-term impact on delinquency and drug use among females and males. Further, the study found that changes in life events are associated with greater delinquency and drug use. 4 tables, 2 figures, 6 notes, and 119 references