Reconsidering strain theory: Operationalization, rival theories, and adult criminality

Street youth, strain theory, and crime

“…The findings from this research routinely showed that delinquency was most likely when both aspirations and expectations were low (Agnew, 1985;Burton & Cullen, 1992) results which tended to offer support consistent with control theory. Research utilizing alternative measures of strain, such as perceived blocked opportunities (Burton & Cullen, 1992;Burton, Cullen, Evans, & Dunaway, 1994) or the disjunction between economic goals and educational means (Farnworth & Leiber, 1989) were more supportive of the perspective (although see Jensen, 1995), though results were weakened when competing theories were included in the analysis.…”

The school context as a source of self-control

“…Taken together, the theory remains relatively simple: an understanding of the levels of self-control within individuals provides insight into their propensity to offend such that those individuals with lower self-control would be more likely to engage in delinquency and crime. Indeed, empirical tests of Gottfredson and Hirschi's core theoretical hypotheses received extensive support within the criminological community Benson & Moore, 1992;Burton, Cullen, Evans, & Dunaway, 1994;Burton, Evans, Cullen, Olivares, & Dunaway, 1999;Cochran, Wood, Sellers, Wilkerson, & Chamlin, 1998;Evans, Cullen, Burton, Dunaway, & Benson, 1997;Gibbs & Giever, 1995;Gibbs, Giever, & Martin, 1998;Keane, Maxim, & Teevan, 1993;Longshore, Stein, & Turner, 1998;Longshore, Turner, & Stein, 1996;Nagin & Paternoster, 1993;Paternoster & Brame, 1998;Piquero & Tibbetts, 1996;Vazsonyi, Pickering, Junger, & Hessing, 2001;Wood, Pfefferbaum, & Arneklev, 1993).…”

Self-control theory : an exploration of racial disparities in offending.

“…Consistently, researchers have shown that delinquent peer association is a necessary measure to include in tests of self-control theory (Baron, 2004;Burton, Cullen, Evans, & Dunaway 1994;Burton et aI., 1998;Evans, Cullen, Burton, Dunaway, & Benson, 1997;Perrone et aI., 2004;Pratt & Cullen, 2000). These researchers have argued that concepts of self-control theory are not able to account for the connection between delinquent peer association and offending.…”