Gender Differences in the Effects of Strain on the Delinquency of South Korean Youth

Abstract

General strain theory (GST) was tested as an explanation of violent and status offense delinquency of South Korean girls and boys. One research objective was to determine whether Korean girls and boys differed in their experience of each type of strain and in the levels of conditioning effects that might moderate the connections of strain to delinquency. Another objective was to identify gender differences in the effects of different types of strain, conditioning effects, and interaction terms (Strains × Conditioning factors) on delinquency. Finally, the study compared girls and boys on the amount of variance in delinquency that main and interaction effects explained. For both gender groups, the interaction of abuse by teachers and having delinquent peers stood out as the key predictor of violent and status offending.