Although Agnew's (1992) general strain theory (GST) has secured a fair degree of support since its introduction, researchers have had trouble explaining why some individuals are more likely than others to react to strain with delinquency. This study uses data from the National Survey of Children to address this issue. Drawing on Agnew (1997) and the psychological research on personality traits, it is predicted that juveniles high in negative emotionality and low in constraint will be more likely to react to strain with delinquency. Data support this prediction.

Strain theories have conceptualized delinquency as a form of adaptive, problem-solving behavior, usually committed in response to problems involving frustrating and undesirable social environments. The most recent version of strain theory, Agnew's general strain theory, provides the most complete formulation of this argument by suggesting that delinquent behavior enables adolescents to cope with the socioemotional problems generated by negative social relations. To date, however, the actual coping effectiveness of delinquency remains unexamined. This study explores the ways that delinquency may enable adolescents to cope with strain, and it uses national survey data to test the coping effectiveness of delinquent behavior. The findings indicate that delinquency enables adolescents to minimize the negative emotional consequences of strain, and they provide empirical support for the interpretation of delinquency as an adaptive response to aversive environments. Implications for criminological theory are discussed.

A substantial body of research indicates that adolescent maltreatment, like child maltreatment, is associated with elevated levels of delinquency. Criminologists typically account for this relationship by invoking one of three dominant frameworks in criminological theory: “Social control” theorists contend that adolescent maltreatment disrupts important delinquency-inhibiting ties; “social learning” theorists emphasize the deviant values and patterns of behavior that are learned from those that administer maltreatment; whereas “social-psychological strain” theorists emphasize the criminogenic emotions likely to arise among maltreated adolescents, such as anger and resentment. This study uses national survey data to assess the relative merits of these competing explanations. The results provide limited support for all three explanations. The findings are discussed in terms of the need for a more general and complex understanding of the adolescent maltreatment-delinquency relationship.

Certain strain and social learning theorists contend that child-to-parent violence represents a functional response to family adversity (or strain). In particular, these theorists suggest that child-to-parent aggression can be understood partly as an attempt to cope with negative treatment by parents or other family members. Furthermore, violent responses may work for children, allowing them to terminate such treatment. In this study, longitudinal data from a national survey of male adolescents are analyzed to test the assumption that child aggression represents a functional response to family strain. Consistent with theoretical accounts, the results indicate a reciprocal relationship between parental and child aggression, characterized by countervailing effects. Although aggression by parents (slapping) tends to foster aggression on the part of the male adolescent child, aggression by the male adolescent child tends to deter the assaultive behavior of parents. Implications for criminological theory, research, and the control of violent behavior are discussed.

Although there is some evidence to suggest that classic strain theory is applicable to both male and female delinquency, several theorists have argued that a distinct version of strain theory may be required to explain delinquency among females. In particular, whereas male deviance tends to be generated by classic (or economic) strain, female deviance tends to be generated by strain occurring in interpersonal relations. This study attempts to test this argument by examining the relative effects of interpersonal strain on male and female delinquency. An analysis of national survey data reveals that interpersonal strain (or problems in peer relations) is an important correlate of certain types of delinquency among female adolescents. The analysis also reveals, however, that interpersonal strain is perhaps a more important correlate of male delinquency. Implications for the understanding of female delinquency are discussed.