An interdisciplinary examination of juvenile delinquency

Escalating juvenile violent crime rates, increasing numbers of female juvenile offenders, and projected increases in the juvenile population, have policy makers desperate for more effective juvenile policies. Criminologists have pointed out that although existing theories of juvenile delinquency are well tested and debated, they fail to offer new insights to policy makers (Wright & Cullen, 1997), who are left rudderless. Empirical evidence suggests that the etiology of female delinquency may differ from that of male delinquency. Broidy and Agnew (1997) propose that a gendered version of strain theory may be able to account for such differences. This dissertation presents and tests an interdisciplinary model of juvenile delinquency that specifically addresses the unique motivations of females to commit delinquent acts. The foundation for this new theoretical framework is Agnew's (1992) general strain theory (GST). The interdisciplinary nature of the framework is derived from stress research (psychology), and social support theory (medical sociology). The new model is tested using data from wave six of the National Youth Survey. Four research questions are presented in this dissertation. First, is GST supported by data? Second, is the interdisciplinary model a better predictor of delinquency than GST alone? Third, does this interdisciplinary model predict female delinquency better than male delinquency? Fourth, does social support, a factor in the interdisciplinary model, mediate the effects of "sources of strain" from the GST model?; Results provide partial support for GST and indicate that the proposed interdisciplinary model of delinquency is helpful in predicting delinquency. Results investigating the mediating effects of social support on sources of strain suggest that this variable may explain the variability in crime rates by gender. The dissertation as a whole provides a foundation for future tests of interdisciplinary gendered strain models.