STRAIN THEORY AND HISPANIC ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): This dissertation application is concerned with ethnic variations in the development of antisocial behavior, as manifested in adolescent delinquency and violence. Although a great deal has been learned about delinquency and antisocial behavior from previous research, relatively little is known about the course and development of serious antisocial behavior among ethnic minorities, as information in the literature is overwhelmingly based on general population surveys. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine how one general explanation of antisocial behavior, namely strain theory, applies to samples of Hispanic adolescents. Consideration of the impact that race/ethnicity has on deviance has been negligible in both the theoretical development and empirical testing of strain. Since recent studies have uncovered interactions between ethnicity and theoretical constructs, one might expect that the causes and experiences of strain may be differentially related to ethnicity. To explore this possibility, the current investigation will determine whether the traditional strain theory perspective on crime, as proposed by Merton (1938, 1968) and Cloward and Ohlin (1960), applies to Hispanics in the same way it does to other ethnic/racial groups. Data from the Denver and Rochester youth studies will allow for a comparison to be made between two separate Hispanic groups and their African American and white counterparts, using bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques including the estimation of stacked models in LISREL. The overall explanatory value of strain and differences in model pathways will be examined across ethnic groups. In doing so, this study will determine whether a culturally specific model of strain is necessary to create an improved explanation of criminal behavior for Hispanics.