Agnew's general strain theory elaborates on traditional strain models (Cloward and Ohlin, 1960; Cohen, 1955; and Merton, 1938) by redefining the strain concept, specifying strain-generated negative emotions as the source of deviant motivation, and incorporating conditioning factors into the theory to explain individual differences in adaptations to strain. Agnew defines "strain" as "negative or aversive relations with others," which are of three types: strain as the actual or anticipated failure to achieve positively valued goals, strain as the actual or anticipated removal of positively valued stimuli, and strain as the actual or anticipated presentation of negative stimuli. Although GST is proposed as a general theory for all racial and ethnic groups, it may be especially applicable to African-Americans, who tend to report higher levels of psychological distress due to their more frequent experiences of racism and economic disadvantage. Four hypotheses related to the application of GST to African-Americans were tested with data from the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA). The NSBA Cross-Section Study, a nationally representative survey of adult African-Americans, was completed in 1980 for a sample of 2,107 respondents. In the NSBA each respondent was asked about "personal problems." More than half of the sample indicated problems in their lives and/or in the lives of significant others. Problems were specified through 120 categories of life events. Follow-up questions examined respondents' feelings related to the problems experienced, as well as their behaviors during times of trouble. Results from ordinary least squares regression analyses generally supported the hypotheses based in GST. Negative emotions derived from strain had consistently significant effects on deviance, regardless of whether the study used composite or separate measures of inner-directed and outer-directed emotions and deviance. Although self-esteem and self-efficacy as conditioning factors generally failed to receive empirical support, religiosity was found to significantly buffer the effects of negative emotions on deviance. Implications are drawn for the further development of GST. 2 tables, 56 references, and appended items used for analysis