Assessing the Gendered General Strain Theory Over Time in Individuals with a Residential Care History

ABSTRACT

The gendered general strain theory posits that differences in delinquency across gender are due to differences in coping with negative emotions. The present study tests its validity over a 10-year follow-up. We measured exposure to strain, levels of anxiety/depression, anger/irritability, and delinquent behaviors through questionnaires and interviews during residential care (T₁) and then 10 years later (T₂) in a sample of 80 men and 54 women who were placed in youth welfare and juvenile justice institutions in Switzerland during childhood/adolescence. We observed that, in men, less delinquency at T₁ and more symptoms of anxiety/depression at T₁ are related to less delinquency at T₂. In women, none of the emotional variables nor strain predicted delinquency over time. Results give important insights regarding the risk factors related to long-term delinquency in men but only partially support the gendered general strain theory.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the 64 Youth Welfare and Juvenile Justice Institutions and especially the young adults that offered their time for the assessments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Swiss Ministry of Justice.

Notes on contributors

Stéphanie Habersaat

Stéphanie Habersaat is a psychologist–criminologist and has Ph.D. in Life Sciences. She was appointed as a research psychologist at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research Department, Psychiatric University Hospitals Basel, and as a criminologist at the Penal Enforcement Service in the State of Valais, Switzerland. Her main research interests focus on exposure to traumatic situations, stress, biological regulation, and criminal behavior.

Sébastien Urben

Sébastien Urben, Ph.D., is a research psychologist leading the clinical research group of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne. His primary research interests are related to the role of self-regulatory control processes in the apparition and maintenance of developmental psychopathology.

Julie Palix

Julie Palix, Ph.D., is a psychologist and works as a senior researcher at the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry of the University Hospital of Lausanne. Her main research interests focus on biological and psychological variables associated with criminal behaviors.

David Bürgin

David Bürgin, Ph.D., is a research psychologist who is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research Department, Psychiatric University Hospitals Basel (UPK), and the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Ulm. He mainly investigates the long-term sequelae of early life stress in high-risk and population-based samples.

Jörg M. Fegert

Jörg M. Fegert is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and psychotherapist, as well as a specialist for adult psychosomatic and psychotherapy. He is a medical director at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Ulm in Germany. His research areas are child protection, adverse childhood experiences, children in foster and institutional care, and ethical as well as methodological questions concerning interventions for children and adolescents. He is the president of the Scientific Council of Family Affairs of the German government.

Klaus Schmeck

Klaus Schmeck is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, psychologist, and psychotherapist. He is the former chair of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Basel, Switzerland. His research interests are personality disorders in adolescence, development of psychometric instruments, autism spectrum disorders, and adolescent forensic psychiatry. He is the member of the board of EFCAP (European Forensic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry).

Cyril Boonmann

Cyril Boonmann, Ph.D., is appointed as a senior research psychologist at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research Department and the Department of Forensic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, as well as the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Basel. He is the project coordinator of JAEL, the long-term follow-up study of MAZ.

Marc Schmid

Marc Schmid, Ph.D., is a senior research psychologist at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital. He is a lecturer and head of a research group at the University of Basel. His research focuses on the interplay between youth welfare and child and adolescent psychiatry/psychotherapy, (complex) trauma and trauma therapy, self-injurious behavior, multi-systemic therapy, and personality disorders in adolescence.