RT Article
T1 A longitudinal test of the revised strain theory
JF Journal of quantitative criminology
VO 5
IS 4
SP 373
OP 387
A1 Agnew, Robert 1953-
LA English
YR 1989
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1764279476
AB Agnew's (1985) revised strain theory argues that delinquency results from the inability to escape legally from painful or aversive situations. There is much indirect support for the theory, with experimental and survey data indicating that delinquency is associated with a wide variety of aversive situations. The experimental data, however, are of questionable generalizability and the survey data are primarily cross sectional in nature, leaving unresolved the issue of causal direction. This study examines the relationship between environmental adversity and delinquency using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of adolescent boys. A distribution-free method (arbitrary generalized least squares) is used to estimate a covariance structure model depicting a reciprocal relationship between adversity and delinquency. The results support the revised strain theory: environmental adversity has a causal effect on delinquency, but delinquency does not have an effect on adversity.
K1 reciprocal causation
K1 covariance structure model
K1 Panel analysis
K1 Delinquency
K1 Strain Theory
DO 10.1007/BF01062560