Robert Agnew

Building on the Foundation of General Strain Theory: Specifying the Types of Strain Most Likely to Lead to Crime and Delinquency

General strain theory (GST) is usually tested by examining the effect of strain on crime. Researchers, however, have little guidance when it comes to selecting among the many hundreds of types of strain and have trouble explaining why only some of them are related to crime. This article builds on GST by describing the characteristics of strainful events and conditions that influence their relationship to crime. Strains are said to be most likely to result in crime when they (1) are seen as unjust, (2) are seen as high in magnitude, (3) are associated with low social control, and (4) create some pressure or incentive to engage in criminal coping. Drawing on these characteristics, it is predicted that some types of strain will not be related to crime, including types that have dominated the research on strain theory, and that others will be related to crime, including types that have been neglected by empirical researchers.

Gender and Crime: A General Strain Theory Perspective:

This study applies Agnews general strain theory (GST) to two fundamental questions about gender and crime: (1) How can we explain the higher rate of crime among males? (2) How can we explain why females engage in crime? With respect to the first question, the authors suggest that gender differences in types of strain and the reaction to strain help one understand the gender gap in criminal behavior. With respect to the second question, it is argued that several types of strain may lead to female crime under the proper circumstances. In this area, GST has much in common with numerous accounts that explain female crime in terms of oppression.

A General Strain Theory of Community Differences in Crime Rates

This article draws on Agnews general strain theory to explain community differences in crime rates. After reviewing the communities and crime research, the author discusses the ways in which community-level variables contribute to strain, including the failure to achieve positively valued goals and the loss of positive stimuli/presentation of negative stimuli. The ways in which community-level variables condition the impact of strain on crime are then examined.

Experienced, vicarious, and anticipated strain: An exploratory study on physical victimization and delinquency

Most research on strain theory has focused on the effect of personally experienced strain on delinquency. This study focused on vicarious and anticipated strain; vicarious strain refers to the real-life strains experienced by others around the individual, while anticipated strain refers to the individuals expectation that current strains will continue into the future or that new strains will be experienced. Data from a national sample of adolescent boys were used to examine that type of strain involving physical victimization. A multiple regression analysis indicated that delinquency is related not only to experienced victimization, but also to certain types of anticipated and vicarious physical victimization.

A Longitudinal Test of Social Control Theory and Delinquency

Recent longitudinal research suggests that cross-sectional studies have exaggerated the importance of Hirschis social control theory. This longitudinal research, however, suffers from one or more of the following problems: (a) measures of questionable validity and/or reliability; (b) misspecified causal models, including models that omit important variables and fail to examine the reciprocal and contemporaneous effects between variables; and (c) the failure to consider certain methodological problems peculiar to panel analysis, such as autocorrelation. Most of these problems reduce the likelihood of finding a causal effect from social control to delinquency, and so make the findings of the longitudinal studies suspect. This article uses data from the first two waves of the National Youth Survey to overcome these problems, and provide a more accurate estimate of the effect of social control on delinquency.

Relational Problems with Peers, Gender, and Delinquency.

Although there is some evidence to suggest that classic strain theory is applicable to both male and female delinquency, several theorists have argued that a distinct version of strain theory may be required to explain delinquency among females. In particular, whereas male deviance tends to be generated by classic (or economic) strain, female deviance tends to be generated by strain occurring in interpersonal relations. This study attempts to test this argument by examining the relative effects of interpersonal strain on male and female delinquency. An analysis of national survey data reveals that interpersonal strain (or problems in peer relations) is an important correlate of certain types of delinquency among female adolescents. The analysis also reveals, however, that interpersonal strain is perhaps a more important correlate of male delinquency. Implications for the understanding of female delinquency are discussed.

The Code of the Street: A Quantitative Assessment of Elijah Anderson's Subculture of Violence Thesis and Its Contribution to Youth Violence Research

Based on extensive field research, Elijah Anderson argues that the behavior of many youths is influenced by a street culture or “code” that prescribes violent reactions to interpersonal attacks and shows of disrespect. Although Anderson’s account has been well received by the criminological community, questions remain about the validity and generality of his findings. To address these issues, the authors review other (mostly quantitative) studies of youth violence and consider whether the findings of these studies are consistent with Anderson’s account. The authors also conduct analyses to determine whether Anderson’s observations can help to extend the existing body of quantitative research and, hence, further our understanding of youth violence. Overall, the results of this assessment suggest that Anderson’s observations provide valuable insight into the general problem of youth violence and that future research in this area would benefit from greater attention to the social processes he has served to highlight.

Testing the Leading Crime Theories: An Alternative Strategy Focusing on Motivational Processes:

Empirical tests of the leading crime theories usually develop measures of the independent variables in a theory or set of theories, and then examine the effect of these measures on crime. This article raises a fundamental challenge to these tests. In the first section, it is argued that it is not possible to fully distinguish between the leading crime theories by focusing on the effect of their independent variables. This is because these theories share many of the same independent variables in common. In the second section, it is argued that the leading crime theories are best distinguished in terms of their specification of crime motives. Such motives may be either positive or negative, and they explain why independent variables lead to crime. With certain exceptions, such motives have been neglected in empirical research. The nature of these motives is discussed, and suggestions for their measurement are offered.

Why Do They Do it? An Examination of the Intervening Mechanisms between “Social Control” Variables and Delinquency

According to social control theory, adolescents low in attachment, commitment, and belief are more likely to engage in delinquency because they are free to satisfy universal human needs in the most expedient manner—which is often delinquency. This account of intervening processes has been challenged by strain and differential association/social learning theory. Among other things, it has been argued that (a) these social control variables also cause delinquency because they lead to strain and association with delinquent peers: and (b) the motivation for delinquency is variable, and these control variables only lead to delinquency among suitably motivated individuals, that is, individuals who are strained or who associate with delinquent peers. Data from the Youth in Transition Survey and the National Youth Survey provide support for these challenges.

An Integrated Theory of the Adolescent Peak in Offending.

Crime rates peak during the adolescent years and decline rapidly thereafter in modern, industrialized societies. This article draws on the leading crime theories and the literature on adolescence developed to offer an integrated theory for the adolescent peak in offending. The peak is said to stem from the essential feature of adolescence in such societies: that adolescents are extended some, but not all, of the privileges and responsibilities of adults. This fact has several effects that increase offending: a reduction in supervision; an increase in social and academic demands; participation in a larger, more diverse, peer-oriented social world; an increased desire for adult privileges; and a reduced ability to cope in a legitimate manner and increased disposition to cope in a criminal manner. These effects increase offending for reasons related to all of the major crime theories and, further, influence and interact with one another to influence crime, thereby dramatically increasing their effect on offending.