On the Relative Neglect of Root Causes in Youth Violence Research: A Response to Levine’s “Weapon Carrying. . . A Call to Think Beyond General Strain Theory”

In a recent commentary that appeared in this journal, Levine criticizes the dominance of general strain theory (GST) in the weapon carrying and use literature, as the theory is said to offer a narrow micro-level approach that "overemphasizes immediate causes." According to Levine, the growing influence of GST has contributed to the neglect of larger structural and cultural forces that provide the context for high rates of youth violence and victimization. While we agree that such larger forces are too often neglected in the research literature, we believe Levine has misdiagnosed the cause of this neglect based on a gross mischaracterization of GST. In fact, GST is not to blame, as the theory explicitly recognizes and encourages research on the role of socioeconomic, community- and societal-level factors. After providing an accurate summary of GST, we discuss other factors that may be responsible for the emphasis on micro-level variables and explanations.