Educational Sociology Commons^™

A Cross-Cultural Examination Of The Disjunctive Between Aspirations And Expectations/Perceived Outcomes: Strain And Academic Deviance In The United States And Japan*, Miyuki F. Tedor, Susan F. Sharp, Emiko Kobayashi

Criminology, Anthropology, & Sociology Faculty Publications

Using comparable self-reported survey data collected among college students in the United States (n = 502) and Japan (n = 441), this study examines a paradox of higher academic deviance among otherwise more conforming Japanese youth while revisiting the debate concerning the disjuncture between aspirations and expectations/perceived outcomes in Agnew’s general strain theory (GST). Confirming the paradox, our results indicate that Japanese students are significantly more deviant academically than Ameri- can students. However, contrary to the expectation of GST, but in support of past empir- ical studies, the higher academic deviance among the Japanese, as compared to Americans, is explained …