Life Events and Delinquency: An Assessment of Event‐Based Stressors and Gender Differences among Adolescents in Mainland China

Abstract

Studies that test general strain theory in China have primarily focused on poor treatments by others, and few have assessed the influences of stressor events other than negative treatments as antecedents of delinquency. This study assesses both cumulative and relative effects of multiple stressor events including parent marital instability, family financial disruption, health crisis, and romantic dissolution as antecedents of delinquency in mainland China and how these effects may vary by adolescent gender. Data drawn from over 500 middle-school students from an urban city in China yielded significant observations: Stressful events are related to delinquency after controlling for poor treatments and other common correlates, and event effects are observed both as a composite index and by specific domains. Furthermore, significant gender differences are noted: For boys, delinquency is associated with family financial disruption, parent marital instability, and romantic dissolution. For girls, romantic dissolution and health crisis are associated with delinquency. These results along with others are addressed in light of general strain theory and gender disparity in the sociocultural context of mainland China.

Relational Strains and Delinquency: Assessing the Gendering of Emotions’ Claims among Chinese Adolescents*

“…Consistent with the above contentions, China has been considered a more traditional society with greater gender divide or less egalitarian gender ideology than Western countries in general (Liu 39). Influenced by Confucius sex ideology, Chinese gender norms are said to be distinct, clear‐cut, and with hierarchical stipulations for men and women (Cheung 18; Inglehart and Norris 32).…”

“…Relational strains as independent variables are reflected in six domains that include perceived rejection by parents, rejection by teachers, rejection by peers, harsh physical discipline by parents, harsh verbal discipline by parents, and romantic dissolution, respectively. Although these measures are not exhaustive of all relational strains exposed to Chinese adolescents, they reflect important domains of negative treatments and relational stressor that adolescents face at home, in school, and with peers, which have been identified by recent China studies on strain and delinquency (Bao, Haas, and Pi 8, 9; Liu 39, 40). Thus, perceived rejection by parents, teachers, and peers is considered failure of adolescents to achieve positive relational goals (Bao, Haas, and Pi 8, 9).…”

“…Thus, perceived rejection by parents, teachers, and peers is considered failure of adolescents to achieve positive relational goals (Bao, Haas, and Pi 8, 9). Harsh discipline by parents represents presence of negative relational stimuli (Liu 40), and romantic disruption indicates loss of valued relational ties (Liu 39). Furthermore, the items used to measure each domain resemble prior studies on similar populations of adolescents.…”

“…Higher scores reflect greater levels of supervision/monitor by parents and association with delinquent peers, respectively. In addition, we include basic sociodemographic correlates such as respondents’ grade level (7th grade = 1 and 8th grade = 2), which approximates age of respondents and may correlate with levels of delinquency (Bao, Haas, and Pi 8, 9; Liu 39). Further, we include father's and mother's education (ranging from “1” for “elementary school education” to “6” equaling “postgraduate degree”) and self‐rated class (ranging from “1” for “well‐off” to “6” indicating “extremely poor”), which are controlled since strain and delinquency may vary by family's socioeconomic position (Bao, Haas, and Pi 8, 9; Liu 39).…”

“…One line of studies evaluates GST's basic model that confirms negative emotions to be partial mediators of the strain–delinquency nexus (Bao, Haas, and Pi 8, 9; Bao, Haas, and Xie 10; Gao, Wong, and Yanping 29). Other studies may have included gender but often are limited to assessing gender differences in exposure to strain and/or delinquent adaptations of strain (Cheung and Cheung 19; Liu 39, 40; Liu and Lin 41). Too often, however, these studies omit emotions and thus are unable to assess the intersections of emotions with gender and delinquency.…”