Citation
Rhodes, Jeremy; R; Jang, Sung; & Joon (2008). Testing general strain theory among juvenile and young adult samples. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology. St. Louis, MO.Abstract
While criminologists mostly explain the positive correlation between deviant peer associations and adolescent deviance based on control and/or social learning theory, Agnew suggests that General Strain Theory (GST) makes a unique contribution to the explanation of peer influence on delinquency and drug use among adolescents. Indeed, previous researchers have found empirical evidence of deviant peer associations as a conditioning factor that increases the effects of strain on adolescent deviance. We, however, propose that the significant conditioning effects be understood as deviant peer associations increasing the effects of strain on negative emotions and the effects of negative emotions on adolescent deviance rather than increasing the direct effects of strain on delinquency and drug use. Besides this elaboration of the previous finding, we intend to expand GST research on peer influence by hypothesizing that deviant peer associations tend to increase delinquency and drug use partly by generating negative emotions, which, in turn, lead not only to adolescent deviance but also to strain that further increases delinquency and drug use via negative emotions. To test these hypotheses, we analyze data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.Reference Type
Conference proceedingBook Title
Annual Meeting of the American Society of CriminologyAuthor(s)
Rhodes, JeremyR
Jang, Sung
Joon