NCJ Number
226542
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 37 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2009 Pages: 98-106
Date Published
January 2009
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Using a sample of university students, this study examined the effects of key strains, negative emotions, and conditioning factors on various types of deviance.
Abstract
The results indicated that only three of the eight strains were significantly related to general deviance, violent deviance, or nonviolent deviance. Students who experienced desired goal blockage, teachers’ emotional punishment, or racial discrimination were more likely to engage in deviance. Family related strains, such as family conflict and parental punishment, and gender discrimination were not significantly related to any types of deviance. The findings also showed that anger had a significant positive effect on deviance. This research provides partial support for the interaction effects between total strain and conditioning factors on deviance, and it contributes to the empirical development of general strain theory (GST), measuring an extensive list of strains most likely to lead to deviance. GST has gained a significant level of academic attention, since its development in 1992. According to the GST, various types of strains have significant effects on youth by producing negative emotions, especially anger and depression, which in turn lead to deviance. The types of strains identified as most likely to result in deviance include: failure to achieve core values, parental rejection, negative secondary school experience, abusive peer relations, criminal victimization, and gender/race discrimination. This study, using a sample of 294 university students, examined the relative impacts of 8 strains on deviance to better understand which types of strains were more likely to lead to deviance. Tables, appendix, and references