The Role of Depressed Mood and Anger in the Relationship Between Family Conflict and Delinquent Behavior

Drawing on R. Agnew's (Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology 30: 47–87, 1992) general strain theory, this paper examines whether depressed mood and anger mediate the effects of family conflict on delinquency. We examine data on 7758 students, 14–16 years old, attending the compulsory 9th and 10th grades of the Icelandic secondary school system.

We use structural equation modeling to show that exposure to arguments and fights at home are positively related to both depressed mood and anger among adolescents. Anger is positively associated with delinquent behavior whereas depressed mood has no effect on delinquency.