Transcript Strain Theories continued


Anomie is tied to economic status
Early strain theory focused on
relationship between low social class
status and crime
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Children who witness and/or experience
violence are at increased risk for subsequent
violent behavior
The U.S. Secret Service reports that three–
quarters of the school shooters have been
bullied at some point in time
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General strain theory (GST)
Agnew postulated that strain does not
need to be specifically tied to economic
status because it is actually a
psychological reaction to any perceived
negative aspect of one's social
environment
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Hypothetically, individuals from all social
classes could engage in criminal behavior
because they could all experience negative
emotions arising from strain
This modification of Merton’s theory made
GST powerful because it could explain all
types of offending
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEs7s8T1
pgU&feature=related
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Anger has a significant impact on all
measures of crime and deviance
Strain
ANGER
Criminal
Behavior
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Strains refer to events or conditions that
are disliked by most individuals
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Objective
Subjective
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Objective vs subjective strains
“I lost the paper that I was working on my
computer. I was almost done”
“I got into a huge fight with my best friend
and completely terminated our relationship”
“I hate when my Dad is drunk…and he is
drinking every day”
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Influenced by a range of factors, including
people’s personality traits, goals and values,
and prior experiences
Example: Death of a spouse vs death of a
spouse-abuser
1.
2.
3.
Failure to achieve positively valued
goals
Loss of positive stimuli
Presentation of negative stimuli
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Gap between expectations and
actual achievements (not always
long-term)
Moving to a new city/school
 Parental divorce
 Death of a relative/close friend
 Break Up
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Peer pressure
Physical/emotional abuse
Bullying
Discrimination
Labeling
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Used mail and Web surveys with a randomly
selected national sample of 480 teenagers
aged 13 to 17
%
Drugs/smoking/alcohol
31
Peer pressure/fitting in/looks/popularity
17
Sexual issues (teen pregnancy/abortion/STDs)
14
Education
14
Ignorance/lacking of youth caring/getting involved
10
Career/employment/economy/money/future
10
Morals/attitude
8
Lack of respect/treatment from society
7
Violence/gangs
6
World politics
5
Parents
4
Negative effects on media on youth
3
War/draft/terrorism
3
Stress
2
People don't listen to us
2
Health/medical care/coverage
2
Social Security
2
Safety
1
Other
5
No opinion
2
Boys
Girls
%
%
Drugs/smoking/alcohol
32
31
Peer pressure/fitting in/looks/popularity
14
21
Sexual issues (teen pregnancy/abortion/STDs)
11
16
Education
15
13
Ignorance/lacking of youth caring/getting involved
11
10
Career/employment/economy/money/future
11
9
Morals/attitude
10
7
Lack of respect/treatment from society
4
9
Violence/gangs
6
6
World politics
7
3
Parents
1
6
Negative effects on media on youth
3
4
War/draft/terrorism
3
2
Stress
1
3
People don't listen to us
2
2
Health/medical care/coverage
1
3
Social Security
2
1
Safety
1
1
Top Ten Problems as Reported By U.S. Students*
Incident Type
Number
of Incidents
Percentage
of Total Incidents Reported
1.
Stress
910
15%
2.
Bullying
588
10%
3.
Depression
452
8%
4.
Family Problems
257
4%
5.
Fighting
216
4%
6.
Peer Pressure
185
3%
7.
Drugs
140
2%
8.
Cheating on Schoolwork
116
2%
9.
Cutting/Self-Injury
108
2%
10.
Suicide
107
2%
As reported by students enrolled in schools using
AnComm’s ‘Talk About It®’ anonymous online reporting
service.
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While GST posited that each type of strain
ultimately lead to deviance for slightly
different reasons, all three types were
thought to increase the likelihood that an
individual would experience negative
emotions in proportion to the magnitude,
duration, and recency of the stress
Factors affecting
disposition to delinquency
Strain
ANGER
Constraints to delinquent
behavior
Criminal Behavior
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Anger was found to incite a person to
action, and create a desire for revenge
Crime allows individuals to obtain revenge
against those who have wronged them
Crime may allow individuals to alleviate
their negative emotions
Factors promoting crime
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Bad temper
Low self-control
Previous delinquent
behavior
Delinquent friends
Inability to cope with
anger
Protective factors
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Good temper
High self-control
Shy personality
Non-deviant behavior
Lack of deviant friends
Coping skills
A.
B.
C.
Cognitive
Emotional
Behavioral
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Minimize the importance of the strain by
placing less importance on a particular goal
Maximizing the positive while minimizing the
negative outcomes of an event. This is an
attempt to ignore the fact that there has been
a negative event
Accept the outcomes of the negative
outcomes as fair
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Individuals may actively seek out positive
stimuli (social support from friends and
relatives)
Try to escape negative stimuli
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Relaxation methods
Sport
Meditation
1)
2)
The levels and types of strain might be
different for girls and for boys
Boys and girls may have different
responses to the same strain
Boys
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Peer relations
Status/competition
Jealousy
Girls
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Relationships with
family
Relationships with
friends
Gender discrimination
Female
Male
More likely to respond with
depression and anger
Anger is accompanied by
fear, guilt, and shame
More likely to blame
themselves and worry
about the affects of their
anger
Depression and guilt may
lead to self-destructive
behaviors (i.e. eating
disorders)
More likely to respond with
anger
Anger is followed by moral
outrage
Quick to blame others and
are less concerned about
hurting others
Moral outrage may lead to
property and violent crime
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Females employ escape and avoidance
methods to relieve the strain
Females have stronger relational ties that
might help to reduce strain (social support)
Males are lower in social control, and they
socialize in large, hierarchical peer groups
where they need to maintain their status
Therefore, males are more likely to respond
to strain with crime (Agnew 1997).
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Agnew proposed several different
programs to reduce delinquency
which have shown success after
being implemented
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Family-based programs are designed to
teach the members how to solve problems
in a constructive manner, and parents are
taught how to effectively discipline their
children (Agnew, 1995)
This will reduce the amount of negative
emotions that result from conflict in the
family and will decrease the amount of
strain in the home
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School-based programs seek to improve
relations in and between schools
Peer based programs seek to reduce the
amount of strain that an adolescent feels
as a result of relationships with peers
Relationships with peers can be negative
when the peers are delinquent or when
they are physically or verbally abusive
toward other peers