Gender and General Strain Theory: The Gendering of Emotional Experiences and Expressions

Abstract

In their strain theory explanation for the gender gap in delinquency, Broidy and Agnew posit that the joint experience of anger and depression, which is more typical among females than males, should help explain gender differences in delinquency. The authors extend and test their claim using data from a southeastern middle school. Their findings show that females are more likely than males to experience anger and depression concomitantly and that the interaction between anger and depression is important for understanding the gender gap in delinquency. This is not because depression alleviates the impact of anger on delinquency among females, as suggested by gendered strain theory. Instead, depression exacerbates the effect of anger on delinquency among males. This article concludes that the key to understanding links between gender, emotions, and delinquency resides in gendered expressions of emotional responses to stress rather than in gendered experiences of emotions.

The relationship between injustice and crime: A general strain theory approach

“…The experience of certain types and combinations of emotions can also explain why females were less likely than males to indicate they would engage in violence in response to injustice (De Coster & Zito, 2010). Women tend to experience depression and anxiety in addition to anger in response to strain, which hinders the expression of criminal responses (Broidy & Agnew, 1997).…”

How Does Gender Identity Affect the Relationship Between Strain and Negative Emotions?

“…However, some studies find that as expected females are more vulnerable to depression than males (De Coster 2005;Drapela 2006;Kort-Butler 2009;Jang 2007;Jennings et al 2009;Sigfusdottir et al 2004;Sigfusdottir et al 2008). Finally, some studies confirm that females experience outer-directed and inner-directed emotions simultaneously (De Coster and Zito 2010;Hay 2003) although not all studies find sex differences in the co-occurrence of emotions (Sigfusdottir and Silver 2009).…”

“…Females, on the other hand, may experience crime-suppressing emotions such as depression and guilt in conjunction with anger (Campbell 1993;De Coster and Zito 2010;Hankin and Abramson 2001;Hay 2003;Jang 2007;Ross 1995, 2003;Simon and Nath 2004). Because girls blame themselves and feel expressing their anger is inappropriate, they should be less likely to act out their feelings, thus coping with these negative emotions in more self-destructive ways such as eating disorders (Sharp, Brewster, and Love 2005).…”

“…Anger has been found to be the salient emotion in explaining criminal behavior (Baron 2007;Piquero and Sealock 2004) while the effect of depression on crime is inconsistent (Broidy 2001;De Coster and Zito 2010;Piquero and Sealock 2004). Presumably, anger motivates actors to respond to strain aggressively while depression encourages withdrawing, escapist, and=or self-destructive behaviors (Agnew 1992;Drapela 2006;Hay, Meldrum, and Mann 2010;Jennings et al 2009;Jang and Johnson 2005;Manasse and Ganem 2009;Sigfusdottir, Farkas, and Silver 2008).…”

“…Relationship-based strain such as caring for family increase attachment to conventional others and reduce the opportunities and benefits for females to commit crime, while concerns over material success and victimization may increase the desire and opportunity for criminal coping among males. Not all studies find gender differences in strain, however, with some studies finding that males and females experience similar strains reacting in similar ways (Baron 2007;De Coster and Zito 2010;Hay et al 2010;Hoffmann and Su 1997;Jennings et al 2009;Kaufman 2009;Kort-Butler 2009;Liu and Kaplan 2004;Piquero et al 2010). In sum, numerous studies suggest that males and females experience different types of strain with males experiencing strain more likely to lead to crime with some exceptions.…”