Using General Strain Theory to Explore the Effects of Prison Victimization Experiences on Later Offending and Substance Use

• Author: Jennifer Yahner,Christy A. Visher,Janine M. Zweig,Pamela K. Lattimore
• DOI: 10.1177/0032885514563283
• Date: 01 March 2015
• Published date: 01 March 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

The Prison Journal

2015, Vol. 95(1) 84 –113

© 2014 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0032885514563283

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Article

Using General

Strain Theory to

Explore the Effects

of Prison Victimization

Experiences on Later

Offending and

Substance Use

Janine M. Zweig1, Jennifer Yahner1, Christy A.

Visher2, and Pamela K. Lattimore3

Abstract

We examine the relationship between victimization during incarceration

and the likelihood of former prisoners’ subsequent criminal behavior and

substance use from a general strain theory (GST) perspective. Data from

the multi-site evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative

were used, involving interviews with 543 men and 168 women in 12 states

at four time points: once before prison release and 3 times after release.

Path analyses show support for GST by indicating that prisoners who are

physically assaulted or threatened have negative emotional reactions to

such experiences, specifically hostility and depression, which increases their

likelihood of violent criminal behavior and substance use after release.

Keywords

victimization, general strain theory, recidivism, substance use, prisoner

reentry

1Urban Institute, Washington, DC, USA

2University of Delaware, Newark, USA

3RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Janine M. Zweig, Urban Institute, 2100 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA.

Email: jzweig@urban.org

563283TPJXXX10.1177/0032885514563283The Prison JournalZweig et al.

research-article2014

Zweig et al. 85

Introduction

The current study tests the applicability of Agnew’s (2001, 2002) general

strain theory (GST) to explanations of whether physical victimization while

incarcerated increases the risk of negative reentry outcomes, particularly

criminal offending and substance use behaviors. Although not a traditional

application of this theory,1 we argue that GST can help us understand the

contribution that a noxious strain, such as a victimization experience, can

make to subsequent substance use and offending behaviors. Furthermore,

unlike GST’s traditional focus on samples of non-delinquent youth, this anal-

ysis argues for its applicability to incarcerated adult offenders as well, by

analyzing longitudinal data from the Multi-Site Evaluation of the Serious and

Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) to examine these issues.

There is a great deal of developmental research on theories explaining the

overlap between victim and offender populations (see, for example, Rebellon

& Gundy, 2005; Regoeczi, 2000; Schreck, Stewart, & Osgood, 2008). Yet, we

argue that Agnew’s GST succinctly explains how in-prison victimization

experiences could be related to subsequent offending and substance use,

including the mechanisms by which the two are connected (Agnew, 1992,

2002, 2009). GST posits that strains in the form of (a) failure to reach posi-

tively valued goals (e.g., employment, autonomy), (b) loss of positively val-

ued stimuli (e.g., loss of romantic partners), and (c) presence of negative or

noxious stimuli (e.g., victimization) generate negative affect within individu-

als that, in turn, leads people to take corrective action to alleviate such feelings

via externalized (delinquent) or internalized (substance-using) behavioral

reactions. More specifically, the negative affect may be inner-directed (taking

the form of depression, anxiety, or guilt) or outer-directed (taking the form of

anger, hostility, or frustration), depending on whether an individual blames

himself or others for infliction of that strain (Agnew, 2002). Outer-directed

hostility is the type of negative affect most apt to lead to illegitimate behav-

ioral coping, such as criminal offending. Inner-directed depression, however,

might lead individuals to seek other ways of alleviating such emotions, such

as through substance use.

Furthermore, Agnew argues that some types of noxious strains—victimiza-

tion experiences, in particular—may be especially likely to lead to negative

outcomes because they are seen as unjust, have a large emotional impact, and

involve little personal control (Agnew, 2001, 2002). Some literature on youth

populations shows support for this premise. Agnew (2002) found that physical

victimization led to delinquency in boys, but called for future research on both

boys and girls, and on substance use outcomes. Robertson, Stein, and Schaefer-

Rohleder (2010) found that adverse life events, including emotional and