Strain and Deviant Reactions in Compulsory Military Service: An Investigation of Mediating Mechanisms

Strain is an indivisible part of the military experience. Despite the well-documented association between strain and deviance in civilian settings, however, whether common forms of strain in the military produce deviant reactions among soldiers has yet to be established. In this study, we investigat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Crime and delinquency 2023-04, Vol.69 (4), p.841-863
Main Authors: Orak, Ugur, Solakoglu, Ozgur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol use
Anger
Armed forces
Behavior
Deviance
Military personnel
Military service
Soldiers
Strain theory
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Summary:Strain is an indivisible part of the military experience. Despite the well-documented association between strain and deviance in civilian settings, however, whether common forms of strain in the military produce deviant reactions among soldiers has yet to be established. In this study, we investigate the associations among various forms of strain and deviant behaviors among military service-members. Additionally, we examine the effects of mediating mechanisms linking strain to deviance through the lens of General Strain Theory (GST). We found that strain factors were all positively associated with each deviant behavior. Among the mediating factors, anger partially mediated the relationships between strain and all three deviant behaviors, while depression partially mediated only the relationship between strain and heavy alcohol use.
ISSN:0011-1287
1552-387X
DOI:10.1177/0011128721999337