Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Criminology and Criminal Justice

First Advisor

Deena A. Isom

Second Advisor

John D. Burrow

Abstract

General Strain Theory (GST) has been extensively tested across diverse populations, yet Asian Americans, the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, remain largely absent from this body of research. This study addresses this critical gap by developing and validating an Asian American GST that incorporates both traditional and culturally specific strains while examining how collectivist cultural values moderate strain-emotion-coping pathways. Using primary data from 904 Asian American adults across five generational cohorts, this research employed a moderated mediation framework across three interconnected studies. Study 1 tested foundational GST mechanisms, examining direct and mediated effects of strain on three coping outcomes: legitimate coping, self-destructive behaviors, and criminal behaviors. Study 2 investigated whether collectivism moderates these pathways, testing competing hypotheses about cultural values as protective versus amplifying factors. Study 3 explored whether collectivism’s moderating effects vary by gender and immigrant generation. Results demonstrated that core GST mechanisms operate as theorized among Asian Americans, with both traditional and Asian American-specific strains significantly associated with all coping outcomes through the partial mediation of negative emotion. The central finding revealed that collectivism amplifies rather than buffers the pathway from negative emotion to self-destructive behaviors. This amplification was specific to internalizing pathways; collectivism did not significantly moderate pathways to legitimate coping or criminal behaviors. Generational analyses revealed non-linear patterns: fourth-generation Asian Americans, native-born yet still racialized as foreign, showed dramatically amplified effects for criminal behaviors, challenging assumptions that cultural influences simply attenuate over time. These findings advance criminological theory by demonstrating that cultural values operate through more complex mechanisms than previously theorized and that strain effects among Asian Americans concentrate on self-destructive rather than criminal behaviors. Practical implications include recalibrating risk assessment instruments to account for culturally specific patterns, developing culturally responsive interventions, and targeting prevention efforts toward unique strains faced by Asian Americans, including racial discrimination, acculturative stress, and model minority pressures.

Rights

© 2026, Hyeseon Noh

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