Emotional Self-Identity and Intended Aggression among Prison Inmates: A Test of General Strain Theory

• In Event: Differential Processes Linking Strain and Crime

Abstract

Prior research on General Strain Theory tests whether strain-associated negative emotions are positively related to crime and deviance, measuring the emotions in terms of state or trait. This study examines an alternative concept of emotional state and trait, emotional self-identity, drawn from Giordano et al.’s (2007) desistance theory of identity transformation, by analyzing survey data collected from prison inmates. While inmates experience similar objective strain of imprisonment, we measure their subjective strain of dissatisfaction with correctional staff. We first test whether an inmate’s subjective strain is positively associated with the inmate’s probability of engaging in aggression toward other inmates, measured using the vignette method. We also examine whether the strain-aggression relationship is explained partly by an inmate’s positive as well as negative emotional self-identity, controlling for the inmate’s 2-week state of depression and anxiety. Finally, we test whether an inmate’s religiosity and exposure to the “field ministry” of other inmates who graduated from a four-year seminary program in prison moderate relationships among subjective strain, emotional self-identity, and the behavioral intention of aggression toward other inmates. We apply latent-variable structural equation modeling to analyze the data and discuss theoretical and practical implications of findings.

Authors

• Sung Joon Jang, Baylor University

• Byron Johnson, Baylor University

• William Joshua Hays, Baylor University

• Michael Hallett, University of North Florida

• Grant Duwe, Minnesota Department of Corrections