Exploring a source of deviance-producing strain for females - Perceived discrimination and general strain theory

While the oppression of women has been held by many feminist criminologists to be at the core of female crime, little research had explored the link between discrimination, generally, and gender-based discrimination, specifically, and female deviance. Using the framework of general strain theory (GST), this study used a sample of young adult females to explore whether self-reported measures of discrimination experiences were related to self-reported criminal activity and/or diagnoses of substance use disorders. Results indicated that a measure of major discrimination that included gender discrimination was a significant predictor of both crime and substance use disorders. These findings were interpreted as being supportive of GST and previous scholarship by other feminist criminologists. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.