NCJ Number
233237
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 38 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2010 Pages: 1150-1159
Date Published
November 2010
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study examined data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to determine if the frequency of health problems adolescents experience influences their subsequent involvement in general crime and delinquency, property crime, and violence.
Abstract
The current study uses Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST) as a foundation to argue that poor health may lead to delinquency. Those who suffer frequently from minor health problems and lack resources to afford proper medical care are expected to experience elevated levels of health-related strain, negative emotional affect, and report engaging in more delinquent acts. Using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), negative binomial regression models were estimated and show that health strains increase the subsequent frequency of nonviolent delinquency even when controlling for important demographic and theoretically derived variables. Health strain's influence on nonviolent delinquency was not conditioned by anger, depression, self-esteem, low constraint, or religiosity. Implications for GST are discussed and a modest research agenda for investigating health strain is identified. (Published Abstract) Tables, appendix, notes, and references