What kind of person would be most likely to respond to strain with crime, according to Agnew's general strain theory?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Possible answer: There is actually a variety in types of people that could respond to strain with crime. For example, an individual that has not developed healthy coping skills is at higher risk of responding to stress in antisocial ways (including crime). This may be due to mental illness, for example. There are three kinds of coping skills that may be faulty: cognitive, behavioral, and emotional coping. Typically, those that have problematic behavioral coping strategies are at risk for crime and delinquency. Typically, these strategies entail some sort of action to deal with stress. Furthermore, those that lack resources that may help them cope with stress in positive ways are also at risk for responding to strain with crime. For example, one can engage in retail therapy to relieve stress or go play basketball with friends. Individuals that lack conventional social support are also at risk or those that may be predisposed to risk as predicted by other theories (like low self-control and criminal beliefs). As you can see, there really is not one "type," per se, but a wide variety of issues that may put people at risk of responding to strain with crime.