Agnew's General Strain Theory

Historical and intellectual background of theory While there are many criminological theories, this paper is focused on general strain theory. General strain theory has been revised by multiple different theorists and has gone from being a structure to a social-psychological area. Robert Agnew’s version of general strain theory discusses strain specifically in individuals as a classical and traditional area of criminology. Strain in individuals leads to negative relationships amongst the youth and adolescent teens. Robert Agnew’s general strain theory was introduced back in 1992, as a way to define social relationships and delinquent state of mind but also has support from empirical evidence (Agnew, 1992). The background of general strain …show more content…
In Agnew, Brezina, Wright, and Cullen (2002), they discuss the use of traits that could be linked back to an increase in delinquency. There are also arguments on a gender based side that do not adequately explain if there is a difference between male and female delinquency (Daigle, Cullen, and Wright, 2007). There are also four factors that are discussed to lead to strain theories delinquency and crime despite the differences mentioned in other articles. Empirical evidence has been supported in Agnew’s general strain theory, but has also provided background information to support the findings. In Froggio (2007), he discusses how the data he has collected in his study does indeed show a link between strain, negative life events, negative emotions, and delinquency. He also discusses that in the empirical evidence provides results to show how behavior that is deviant tends to peak during the early adolescent ages until almost becoming an …show more content…
Piquero and Sealock (2010), discuss the efforts of using different types of samples when it comes to the sample sizes for the data. Another area that was discussed was to evaluate the punishments that parents give to their children. Future research according to Moon, Blurton, and McCluskey (2008), could help continue to develop general strain theory by finding more details on the link between social control, social learning, and general strain. I believe that for future research for this topic would be to examine deeper into areas that could be more beneficial. Researching deeper into gender could give a breakdown as to what specifically triggers males and females and why they are triggered. Race is another area that could be discussed, as some articles reference African Americans and the discrimination they receive. With breaking down each race, there could be a beneficial information that is being overlooked that could potentially bring down the numbers of delinquent