Adolescent Maltreatment, Negative Emotion, and Delinquency: An Assessment of General Strain Theory and Family-Based Strain

• NCJ Number: 228056
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2009 Pages: 379-387
• Author(s): Dusten R. Hollist; Lorine A. Hughes; Lonnie M. Schaible
• Date Published: August 2009
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using data from a national sample of 1,423 youth, this study tested hypotheses derived from Agnew's (1992, 2001) general strain theory (GST) regarding the relationship between adolescent maltreatment and delinquent behavior.

Abstract

Highlighting the importance of parent-child problems as a significant source of strain leading to delinquency, the findings indicate a significant association between maltreatment and all three types of delinquent behavior, i.e., general, serious, and substance use. The findings also confirmed the theoretical prediction that negative emotions are key intervening mechanisms. When the effect of anger, anxiety, and depression were controlled, there was a consistent reduction in the strength of the effect of maltreatment on delinquency. As the theory predicts, anger was the most significant emotion linked to delinquency. According to GST, however, the effect of strain on delinquency is indirect and should be mitigated by controls for negative emotion. The data did not support this theory. Similar to findings from other studies, results indicated that maltreatment continued to exert significant effects on general and serious delinquency even after controlling for negative emotions and both individual and family characteristics. This suggests that anger, anxiety, and depression are not the only mechanisms through which adolescent maltreatment contributes to delinquency. The direct effects of negative emotions were found to be equally, if not more, consequential for delinquency than the direct effect of maltreatment. Study data were obtained from the first and second waves of the National Survey of Children (NSC), a national survey of 2,000 children in the United States, with an oversampling of Blacks. Sampled youth were between the ages of 7 and 11 when they were first interviewed in 1976. In the second wave of data collection, the focus was on recontacting youth who reported having family problems 5 years earlier. 4 tables, 8 notes, 78 references, and appendix