NCJ Number
228926
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 39 Issue: 5 Dated: September-October 2009 Pages: 442-451
Date Published
October 2009
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Using general strain theory, this Canadian study examined the influence of experiences of violent victimization, vicarious violent victimization, and 2 forms of anticipated violent victimization on 300 street youths' violent offending.
Abstract
The study found that certain characteristics of youth and their environments made them more likely to develop aggressive behaviors in response to the three forms of exposure to violence. The adoption of criminal coping strategies in response to various types of experiences of violence can be influenced by a number of conditioning factors that can reduce or increase a youth's disposition to engage in criminal behaviors. These factors include level of self-esteem and social support, interaction with deviant peers, deviant attitudes conditioned by deviant subcultures, low behavioral constraint, and negative emotionality. Thus, how a youth interprets and reacts to his/her experiences of violence is what determines subsequent behaviors. Study data were collected between June 2005 and January 2006 in Toronto, Canada. Over this period, 300 youths completed usable interviews on the streets, in shelters, and drop-in centers. To be eligible for inclusion in the study youth had to be between the ages of 16 and 24, not currently in school, not employed, and self-reported living in a shelter or being without a fixed address during the previous 12 months. Independent variables were experiences of the four different forms of violent victimization. The study also measured the six variables outlined in Agnew's general strain theory as conditioning responses to strain: low constraint, negative emotionality, violent values, violent peers, social support, and self-esteem. 4 tables, 4 notes, and 75 references