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Strain, Coping, and Delinquency among Different Groups of Youth

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Delinquent Youth in a Transforming China
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Abstract

This chapter examines the major sources of strain for urban students, migrant children, and deviant youth. Drawing on the youths’ own words, the findings in my interviews showed that failure to meet parents’ high expectations for academic success (i.e. academic strain) is the major source of strain for urban youth. Migrant youth tend to suffer from financial strain caused by the families’ unstable and insecure financial situations. For deviant youth, relational strain, as a consequence of broken families and changing family relations, has the greatest impact. Youths who give up studies under tremendous academic strain, who grow up in broken families, or experience negative family relations are most likely to turn to delinquency as a way of coping.

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Bao, WN. (2017). Strain, Coping, and Delinquency among Different Groups of Youth. In: Delinquent Youth in a Transforming China. Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63727-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63727-3_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63726-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63727-3

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