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STRAIN, PERSONALITY TRAITS, AND DELINQUENCY: EXTENDING GENERAL STRAIN THEORY ROBERT AGNEW Emory University TIMOTHY BREZINA Tulane University JOHN PAUL WRIGHT FRANCIS T. CULLEN University of Cincinnati Although Agnew’s (1992) general strain theory (GST) has secured a fair degree of support since its introduction, researchers have had trouble explaining why some individuals are more likely than others to react to strain with delinquency. This study uses data from the National Survey of Children to address this issue. Drawing on Agnew (1997) and the psychological research on personality traits, it is pre- dicted that juveniles high in negative emotionality and low in constraint will be more likely to react to strain with delinquency. Data support this prediction. General strain theory (GST) has secured a fair degree of empirical sup- port since its introduction in 1992 (Agnew, 1992). Research suggests that many types of strain falling under the theory are related to delinquency, with certain studies indicating that strain affects subsequent delinquency and that the impact of strain on delinquency is at least partly mediated by negative emotions like anger (Agnew, 1985; Agnew and Brezina, 1997; Agnew and White, 1992; Agnew et al., 1996; Aseltine et al., 2000; Baron and Hartnagel, 1997; Brezina, 1998, 1999; Broidy, 2001; Burton and Duna- way, 1994; Cernkovich et al., 2000; Colvin, 2000; Hagan and McCarthy, 1997; Hoffmann and Cerbone, 1999; Hoffmann and Miller, 1998; Hoff- mann and Su, 1997; Katz, 2000; Mazerolle, 1998; Mazerolle and Maahs, 2000; Mazerolle and Piquero, 1997, 1998; Mazerolle et al., 2000; Paternos- ter and Mazerolle, 1994; Piquero and Sealock, 2000). At the same time, the research poses a major challenge for GST. GST recognizes that only some strained individuals turn to delinquency, and it predicts that several factors condition the impact of strain on delin- quency. There is little support for such predictions, however. This severely limits the explanatory power of GST. Most forms of strain have only small to moderate overall effects on delinquency, reflecting the fact CRIMINOLOGY Votume 40 NumsBer1 2002 43 
