NCJ Number
121801
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1989) Pages: 373-387
Date Published
1989
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Agnew's (1985) revised strain theory argues that the inability to escape legally from painful or aversive situations results in delinquency.
Abstract
The theory is supported indirectly by experimental and survey data indicating that delinquency is associated with a variety of aversive situations. The issue of causal direction is unresolved, however, as the experimental data are of questionable generalizability and the survey data primarily cross sectional in nature. In this study the relationship between environmental adversity and delinquency is examined using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of adolescent boys. A covariance structure model depicting a reciprocal relationship between adversity and delinquency is estimated by a distribution-free method (arbitrary generalized least squares). The revised strain theory is supported by the results that environmental adversity has a causal effect on delinquency. 32 references. (Author abstract modified)