ABSTRACT

The current study expands on existing scholarship by exploring General Strain Theory to understand the relationships between school-based strain (feeling isolated at school and having trouble with people at school) and delinquency while considering the mediating role of depression among gay/lesbian, bisexual, mostly heterosexual, and heterosexual youth. Using the restricted Add Health data (N = 10,897) findings indicated that gay/lesbian youth report more delinquency than heterosexual youth and bisexual youth, yet mostly heterosexual youth report the highest levels of delinquency. Inconsistent with General Strain Theory’s predictions, depression did not mediate the relationship between school-based strain and delinquency when controlling for sexual identity. Further, our results suggested that certain school-based strains are predictive of delinquency for certain sexual identity groups (heterosexual and bisexual) but not others (mostly heterosexual and gay/lesbian). This work highlights the need for intersectional theoretical extensions, policy applications, and more research on strains, emotions, and delinquency to unravel the nuances of these relationships among the LGBTQ+ community.

摘要

目前的研究在现有的学术基础上进行了扩展，探索了一般紧张理论，以了解学校压力（在学校感到孤立以及与学校里的人有麻烦）和犯罪之间的关系，同时考虑抑郁症在男同性恋/女同性恋、双性恋、大多数是异性恋，以及异性恋青少年。使用受限的添加健康数据 ( N = 10,897）调查结果表明，男同性恋/女同性恋青年的犯罪率高于异性恋青年和双性恋青年，但大多数异性恋青年的犯罪率最高。与一般紧张理论的预测不一致的是，在控制性别认同时，抑郁症并没有调节学校压力和犯罪之间的关系。此外，我们的结果表明，某些基于学校的菌株可以预测某些性别认同群体（异性恋和双性恋）的犯罪行为，但不能预测其他群体（主要是异性恋和男同性恋/女同性恋）的犯罪行为。这项工作强调需要进行交叉理论扩展、政策应用以及对压力、情绪和犯罪进行更多研究，以揭示 LGBTQ+ 群体之间这些关系的细微差别。