Sociological Analysis of the Abnormal Behaviors' Potential with Emphasis on Agnio's General Pressure Theory

All societies are subject to abnormal behaviors, but identifying the potential for abnormalities - the hidden capacity of society to abide by norms - can provide a clear perspective of the contexts and capacities of society for harm, disorder, tensions and turmoil. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of general pressure on the potential of abnormal behaviors based on Agnio's five-step theory.

The method of this study is survey and the statistical population consisted of all 18-65-year-old citizens of rural and urban areas of Kohkiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province. The sample size was set as 450. The samples were selected using multistage random sampling method. The research instrument was a combination of a researcher-made and a standard questionnaire whose validity was assessed by content validity, face validity, and construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis and its reliability was measured by Kuder-Richardson method. Structural equation modeling and LISREL software were used to test the hypotheses. 

The structural equations modelling of the research indicates that general pressure has a positive effect on the potential for abnormal behavior and is able to explain 41% of the dependent variable changes. Also, the effect size of general pressure on the potential of abnormal behaviors is 0.64 which is significant with respect to the t-value (t = 6.9) and it indicates that every per unit change in general pressure would cause 0.64 of the potential for abnormal behavior in the positive direction of change. Also, with the entry of demographic variables as control variables, there was a significant difference between men and women, single and married, urban and rural individuals in potential abnormal behavior.

The result of the present study is along with Agnio's theory and shows that with increasing public pressure, the likelihood of abnormal behaviors in society is significantly increased, so that whenever positive stimuli are eliminated or negative stimuli are increased, pressure is created and this leads to deviant responses.