Healthy, wealthy, and wise: Incorporating health issues as a source of strain in Agnew’s general strain theory

Citation

Stogner, John & Gibson, Chris L. (2010). Healthy, wealthy, and wise: Incorporating health issues as a source of strain in Agnew's general strain theory. Journal of Criminal Justice. vol. 38 (6) pp. 1150-1159

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 non-violent delinquency even when controlling for important demographic and theoretically derived variables. Health strain's influence on non-violent 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.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jcrimjus.2010.09.003

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Journal of Criminal Justice

Author(s)

Stogner, John
Gibson, Chris L.

Year Published

2010

Volume Number

38

Issue Number

6

Pages

1150-1159

DOI

10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2010.09.003

Reference ID

1247