Testing General Strain Theory

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will increase the likelihood of cheating.” The second states “Students that believe cheaters have an unfair competitive advantage in the job market or being admitted into post-baccalaureate programs, such as medical or law school, are more likely to cheat” Both these hypothesis are supported by Agnew, he states that individuals will resort to crime in order to achieve their positively valued goals. In this case students are unable to achieve their academic aspiration, and must resort to cheating. The third is “The likelihood of cheating increases if students are placed on academic probation.” And the fourth was “The likelihood of cheating increases if students find classes to be uninteresting and meaningless.” These hypothesis are supported by Agnew’s idea of strain that is cause in the presence of a negative stimuli, which in this case is academic probation, and a meaningless class. The last two hypothesis are “The likelihood of academic dishonesty will increase if students are threatened with the prospect of losing their academic scholarships if they do not meet minimum academic standards.” And “The likelihood of scholastic dishonesty will increase if student athletes are threatened with academic ineligibility to participate in varsity sports.” In this case an academic scholarship and varsity sports are other examples of a positively values stimuli. Agnew states that a strain is caused by the removal of a positively valued stimuli.

A different study conducted by John J Rodriguez and Scott Belshaw titled “General Strain Theory: A Comparative Analysis of Latino & White Youth” publish in The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice tested Agnew’s theory, but the results did not support it. The study investigated if General Strain Theory can be applied to both the Latino and the White community. The results concluded that “Latino youth suffer from strain and might handle strain differently, Latino youths are less likely to commit delinquent acts due to strain.” (Rodriguez, 2010)The study included the use of data from the National Survey of Adolescents (Kilpatrick & Saunders, 1995). “The data were collected over a six-month period from January, 1995 to June, 1995. This particular data set was used because it included a large number of Latino youths which was not aggregated with White youth.” The hypothesis tested was the relationship between General Strain Theory and the delinquency of Latino youth. Rodriguez and Belshaw tested family strain, school strain, peer delinquency, and possible negative emotions. After the study was concluded, the results did not support Agnew’s finding relating to strain leading to delinquent. The study found that even though the Latino youth faced much strains, they did not resort to crime. (Rodriguez, 2010)

Although the study published in The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice did not support Agnew’s General Strain Theory, it is only one in a sea of research and studies done that do support the theory. When an individual has a set goal in mind, and factor blocks these positively valued goal, that individual will resort to anything to achieve a solution and reach that goal. The same results will be achieved if a negative stimuli is present or a positively valued goal is blocked. Therefore, Agnew’s theory of General Strain should be accepted when creating crime control policies. Some people in this world only live to reach their hopes and dreams, and if crime was the only way to do so, not many people will sit and give up, most will do whatever is necessary to attain their those aspirations.

Refrences

Rodriguez, J., & Belshaw, S. (2010). GENERAL STRAIN THEORY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LATINO & WHITE YOUTHS. The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 7 (2), 7(2), 138-158.

Smith, T.R., Langenbancher, M., Kudlac, C., & Fera, A. G. (2013). Deviant Reactions to the College Pressure Cooker: A Test of General Strain Theory on Undergraduate Students in the United States. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, 8(2), 88-104

Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30,