Street Youth, Gender, Financial Strain, and Crime: Exploring Broidy and Agnew's Extension to General Strain Theory

Abstract

General strain theory posits that adversive circumstances experienced by youths increase the likelihood of criminal behavior. Broidy and Agnew argue that while the underlying process identified in the general strain model will be applicable to both male and female crime different models of strain may be required to highlight gender differences in the underlying process. Utilizing a “high risk” sample of 400 homeless street youths the study examines how socioeconomic strain in the forms of homelessness, monetary dissatisfaction, and relative deprivation may be differentially linked to property and violent crime depending on gender. The conditioning effects of deviant attitudes, deviant peers, attributions, self-efficacy, and self-esteem are also examined. The results reveal few gender differences in the main effects of the different types of strain on crime. There are, however, gender differences in the way the conditioning variables impact the link between forms of strain and crime.