Although prior research concerning Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST) has generated renewed support for the perspective, it remains limited in two critical ways. First, research tends to measure strain in terms of noxious stimuli while neglecting Agnew's conception of strain as the disjunction between expected and actual outcomes or as the disjunction between fair and actual outcomes. Second, studies rely exclusively on correlational designs that preclude causal assertions about the relationships among strain, anger, and crime. This study addresses both limitations by conducting the first experimental test of GST. Results indicate that (1) respondents assigned at random to experimental conditions involving strain as a disjunction between expected and actual outcomes or between fair and actual outcomes report significantly higher levels of situational anger, (2) high levels of situational anger are significantly associated with a higher self-reported likelihood of engaging in theft from an employer, and (3) these relationships are not significantly conditioned by perceived social support.
Adams, J.S. (1963). Toward an understanding of inequity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology67, 422-36.
2.
Agnew, R. (1989). A longitudinal test of the revised strain theory . Journal of Quantitative Criminology5, 373-87.
3.
Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology30, 47-87.
4.
Agnew, R. (2001). Building on the foundation of general strain theory: Specifying the types of strain most likely to lead to crime and delinquency . Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency38, 319-61.
5.
Agnew, R. (2006). Pressured into crime: An overview of General Strain Theory. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing.
6.
Agnew, R. and White, H.R. (1992). An empirical test of General Strain Theory. Criminology30, 475-99.
7.
Agnew, R., Cullen, F., Burton, T.V., Evans, D. and Dunaway, R.G. (1996). A new test of classic strain theory. Justice Quarterly13, 681-704.
8.
Aseltine, R.H., Jr, Gore, S. and Gordon, J. (2000). Life stress, anger and anxiety, and delinquency: An empirical test of General Strain Theory. Journal of Health and Social Behavior41, 256-75.
9.
Baron, S.W. (2004). General strain, street youth, and crime: A test of Agnew's revised theory. Criminology42, 457-83.
10.
Baron, S.W. and Hartnagel, T.F. (2002). Street youth and labor market strain. Journal of Criminal Justice30, 519-33.
11.
Berkowitz, L. and Thome, P.R. (1987). Pain expectation, negative affect, and angry aggression . Motivation and Emotion11, 183-93.
12.
Beutel, A. and Marini, M. (1995). Gender and values. American Sociological Review60, 436-48.
13.
Brezina, T. (1996). Adapting to strain: An examination of delinquent coping responses. Criminology34, 39-59.
14.
Broidy, L.M. (2001). A test of General Strain Theory. Criminology39, 9-36.
15.
Broidy, L.M. and Agnew, R. (1997). Gender and crime: A General Strain Theory perspective . Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency34, 275-306.
16.
Burton, V., Cullen, F.T., Evans, D. and Dunaway, R.G. (1994). Reconsidering strain theory: Operationalization, rival theories, and adult criminality. Journal of Quantitative Criminology10, 213-39.
17.
Capowich, G.E., Mazerolle, P. and Piquero, A. (2001). General Strain Theory, situational anger, and social networks: An assessment of conditioning influences. Journal of Criminal Justice29, 445-61.
18.
Cernkovich, S.A. and Giordano, P.C. (1979). Delinquency, opportunity, and gender. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology70, 145-51.
19.
Cernkovich, S.A., Giordano, P.C. and Rudolph, J.L. (2000). Race, crime, and theAmerican dream. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency37, 131-8.
20.
Cloward, R.A. and Ohlin, L. (1960). Delinquency and opportunity. New York: Free Press.
21.
Cohen, A.K. (1955). Delinquent boys: The culture of the gang. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
22.
Cohen, J. and Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd edn. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
23.
DeCoster, S. and Heimer, K. (2001). The relationship between law violation and depression: An interactionist approach. Criminology39, 799-836.
24.
Eitle, D.J. (2002). Exploring a source of deviance-producing strain for females: Perceived discrimination and General Strain Theory. Journal of Criminal Justice30, 429-42.
25.
Eitle, D.J. and Turner, R.J. (2002). Exposure to community violence and young adult crime: The effects of witnessing violence, traumatic victimization, and other stressful live events. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency39, 214-37.
26.
Eitle, D.J. and Turner, R.J. (2003). Stress exposure, race, and young adult male crime . Sociological Quarterly44, 243-69.
27.
Farnworth, M. and Leiber, M. (1989). Strain theory revisited: Economic goals, educational means, and delinquency. American Sociological Review55, 236-79.
28.
Fazio, R.H. (1986). How do attitudes guide behavior? In R. M. Sorrentino and E. T. Higgins (eds) The handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior, 204-43. New York: Guilford.
29.
Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
30.
Gottfredson, M.R. and Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
31.
Grasmick, H.G., Tittle, C.R., Bursik, R.J., Jr and Arneklev, B.J. (1993). Testing the core empirical implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency30, 5-29.
32.
Green, D. (1989). Measures of illegal behavior in individual-level deterrence research. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency26, 253-95.
33.
Hagan, J. and Foster, H. (2003). S/he's a rebel: Toward a sequential stress theory of delinquency and gendered pathways to disadvantage in emerging adulthood . Social Forces82, 53-86.
34.
Hagan, J. and McCarthy, B. (1997). Mean streets: Youth crime and homelessness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
35.
Hay, C. (2003). Family strain, gender, and delinquency. Sociological Perspectives46, 107-35.
36.
Hegtvedt, K.A. (1990). The effects of relationship structure on emotional responses to inequity. Social Psychology Quarterly53, 214-28.
37.
Hoffmann, J.P. and Cerbone, F.G. (1999). Stressful life events and delinquency escalation in early adolescence. Criminology37, 343-73.
38.
Hoffmann, J.P. and Miller, A.S. (1998). A latent variable analysis of General Strain Theory . Journal of Quantitative Criminology14, 83-110.
39.
Jensen, G.F. (1995). Salvaging structure through strain: A theoretical and empirical critique. In F. Adler and W. S. Laufer (eds) The legacy of anomie theory, 139-58. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publications.
40.
Jöreskog, K. and Sörbom, D. (1993a). PRELIS 2 user's reference guide. Chicago, IL: Scientific Software International.
41.
Jöreskog, K. and Sörbom, D. (1993b). LISREL 8 user's reference guide. Chicago, IL: Scientific Software International.
42.
Kim, K.J., Conger, R.D., Elder, G.H., Jr and Lorenz, F.O. (2003). Reciprocal influences between stressful life events and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Child Development74, 127-43.
43.
McDonald, J.F. and Moffitt, R.A. (1980). The uses of Tobit analysis. Review of Economics and Statistics62, 318-21.
44.
Mazerolle, P. and Maahs, J. (2000). General strain and delinquency: An alternative examination of conditioning influences. Justice Quarterly17, 753-78.
45.
Mazerolle, P. and Piquero, A.R. (1997). Violent responses to strain: An examination of conditioning influences. Violence and Victims12, 323-43.
46.
Mazerolle, P. and Piquero, A.R. (1998). Linking exposure to strain with anger: An investigation of deviant adaptations. Journal of Criminal Justice26, 195-211.
47.
Mazerolle, P., Piquero, A.R. and Capowich, G.E. (2003). Examining the links between strain, situational and dispositional anger, and crime. Youth and Society35, 131-57.
48.
Merton, R.K. (1938). Social structure and anomie. American Sociological Review3, 672-82.
49.
Nathanson, R. and Saywitz, K.J. (2003). The effects of the courtroom context on children's memory and anxiety. Journal of Psychiatry & Law31, 67-98.
50.
Paternoster, R. and Mazerolle, P. (1994). General Strain Theory and delinquency: A replication and extension. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency31, 235-63.
51.
Pearlin, L.I. (1989). The sociological study of stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior30, 241-56.
52.
Piquero, A.R., Gomez-Smith, Z. and Langton, L. (2004). Discerning unfairness where others may not: Low self-control and unfair sanction perceptions. Criminology42, 699-733.
53.
Piquero, N.L. and Sealock, M.D. (2000). Generalizing General Strain Theory: An examination of an offending population. Justice Quarterly17, 449-84.
54.
Piquero, N.L. and Sealock, M.D. (2004). Exploring general strain: Gender and coping skills in an offender population. Justice Quarterly21, 125-58.
55.
Pogarsky, G. (2004). Projected offending and contemporaneous rule violation: Implications for heterotypic continuity. Criminology42, 111-35.
56.
Rebellon, C.J. and Waldman, I. (2003). Deconstructing `force' and `fraud': An empirical assessment of the generality of crime. Journal of Quantitative Criminology19, 303-31.
57.
Robbers, M.L.P. (2004). Revisiting the moderating effect of social support on strain: A gendered test. Sociological Inquiry74, 546-69.
58.
Roncek, D.W. (1992). Learning more from Tobit coefficients - Extending a comparative-analysis of political protest. American Sociological Review57, 503-7.
59.
Shadish, W.R., Cook, T.D. and Campbell, D.T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
60.
Shiloh, S., Sorek, G. and Terkel, J. (2003). Reduction of state-anxiety by petting animals in a controlled laboratory experiment. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal16, 387-95.
61.
Sigfusdottir, I., Farkas, G. and Silver, E. (2004). The role of depressed mood and anger in the relationship between family conflict and delinquent behavior. Journal of Youth and Adolescence33, 509-22.
62.
StataCorp (2003). Stata statistical software: Release 8. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.
63.
Steffensmeier, D. and Allan, E. (1996). Gender and crime: Toward a gendered theory of female offending. Annual Review of Sociology22, 459-87.
64.
Van Gundy, K. (2002). Gender, the assertion of autonomy, and the stress process in young adulthood. Social Psychology Quarterly65, 346-63.
