Life stress, anger and anxiety, and delinquency: An empirical test of general strain theory

General strain theory (Agnew 1992) departs from traditional strain theories by emphasizing the role of the individual's affective responses to negativ e life experiences in fostering deviant behavior In this analysis, we exami ne the central hypotheses of general strain theory using data from a three- wave panel study of high school youths in the Boston metropolitan area (N = 939). Covariance structure models reveal that anger and hostility in respo nse to negative life events do play a causal role in fostering mow aggressi ve forms of delinquency, but are not significantly, related to either nonag gressive delinquency or marijuana use Furthermore, the conditional effects predicted by general strain theory: in which the impact of strain on delinq uency varies by youths' personal and social resources, are inconsistent. Di scussion centers on the prospect of increasing the utility of general strai n theory by further imbuing it with concepts and perspectives from the soci ology of mental illness.