General Strain Theory: An Exploration of Family and Gender Issues.

Past research examining the relationship between strain and delinquency has provided a degree of support for Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST). Few researchers, however, have explored the interplay between GST variables with variables from other delinquency theories, such as social control and differential association. This research elaborates on the GST model by incorporating variables drawn from other theories. In addition, we examine the possibility that the theory has different implications for males and females. The present study uses data from the Australian Sibling Study comprising 1125 male and female adolescents. The analysis includes measures of strain such as negative relations and neighbourhood problems and other variables such as social attachments, involvement with delinquent peers, self control, social class and anger. By utilising the male-female sibling pairs included in these data, we also examine gender differences in strain theory controlling for the family context.