A Comparison of Four General Theories of Crime and Deviance

Abstract

Explanations of deviant and criminal behavior have been widely studied in the United States and Europe with some studies also conducted in Asian countries. The authors believe that this study is the first to compare directly the extent to which major general social psychological theories of criminal and deviant behavior developed primarily in the United States (General Strain, Social Bonding, Self-Control, and Social Learning) are applicable to a Latin American society. The authors compare how well the theories explain variation in marijuana use among samples of university students in the United States and Bolivia using the same methodology and measurements in each. The results indicate that each of the theories do account for individual differences in use in both samples to some extent, with social learning theory receiving somewhat more support as an explanation of marijuana use in both societies.