Delinquency and the desire for money

Perhaps the central argument of classic strain theory is that delinquency is more likely when individuals are unable to achieve monetary success through legitimate channels. This argument, however, has never been tested adequately. This paper uses data from the Youth in Transition survey to examine whether delinquency is related to the gap between monetary goals and achievements. The gap is measured in relative and in absolute terms; separate analyses are conducted for lower-class respondents and for those who are weakly attached to legitimate norms. The data suggest that the gap between monetary goals and achievements has only a weak relationship to delinquency at best. The desire for large sums of money, however, is related positively to both theft/vandalism and aggression.

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