NCJ Number
205061
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2004 Pages: 125-158
Date Published
March 2004
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This study explored whether sex differences exist in the general strain theory (GST) of criminal behavior.
Abstract
Historically, criminologists have been criticized for focusing their studies of crime too narrowly on male offenders, rending their general theories of crime as one-sided explanations of male crime. However, in 1997, Broidy and Agnew suggested that GST may be able to bridge the understanding of the gender-crime relationship. Rather than arguing either for or against general accounts of criminal behavior versus gender-specific accounts, Broidy and Agnew offer a middle-ground approach in which they assert that the processes that account for offending are similar across gender, but the content of offending is distinct to gender. Thus, Broidy and Agnew suggest that males and females experience the same levels of key indicators implicated in criminal behavior, but they experience these indicators in different ways, accounting for differences in male and female criminality. The authors drew on data that were part of a larger study on the efficacy of residential treatment programs. Participants were 150 youth who were either committed to residential treatment facilities or were placed on probation. Participants completed telephone interviews that implemented measures of strain, negative emotions, and coping resources in order to examine sex differences in interpersonal and property offending. Results of statistical analyses suggest that no sex differences existed for elements of strain, but differences between the sexes did emerge for the variables of anger and depression, with females expressing more anger and depression than their male counterparts. This finding may indicate that different emotions are related to different behaviors. Anger was positively related to interpersonal aggression among females but not among males. Finally, the results suggest that the availability of social coping resources exacerbated, rather than deterred, criminal activity for males, which is consistent with peer network approaches to the explanation of criminality. Taken together, the results underscore the need for clarification and continued study on the potential gender differences in types of strain, negative affect, and coping styles. Limitations of the study include the measurement of only one kind of strain and only two types of offending. Tables, references