Methods
A vignette study employing a convenience sample of college students was used to investigate
gender differences in emotional reactions to strain and the likelihood of criminal responses to
emotion. Four scenarios relevant to college life were used to manipulate emotions. Subjects were
asked to what extent they felt anger, frustration, depression, and fear after reading each scenario.
Subjects were then presented again with the scenario, this time with a concluding paragraph in which
one of the scenario actors commits a criminal act. Subjects were then asked how likely they would
be to ‘do the same thing’ if in the situation. A number of control variables were also considered.
Findings
Overall findings tell us that different emotions predict different types of crime, and that a
number of emotions combine to influence criminal intentions. Some emotions, like anger, encourage
criminal involvement. Emotions that often co-occur with anger, like frustration, inhibit criminal
involvement. Importantly, findings reveal that males and females react to negative emotions in
relatively similar manners, and that the key difference between male and female criminal
involvement lies within their emotional reaction to the strain endured. Males were found to have
a more ‘pure’ and angry frustration when compared to females, and females were found to have a
more ‘pure’ and less angry fear when compared to males. This difference is significant because
anger was found to have precipitating effects on crime and fear was found to have proscriptive
effects.
Contributions
This project significantly advances GST research in regards to gender differences in the
strain/negative emotion/crime relationships. Previous studies found that, while males and females
did not differ in their likelihood to experience anger in response to strain, females experienced
Convention