Predictors of Gang Membership: Variations Across Grade Levels

Farmer, Antoinette Y.; Hairston, Timothy

doi:10.1080/01488376.2013.799112

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Past research also highlights the influence of moral attitudes on gang membership, showing that a low perception of guilt for potential deviance, a higher tolerance for deviance (Esbensen, Huizinga, & Weiher, 1993), and the use of neutralization and moral disengagement strategies to justify antisocial behavior increase the risk of being affiliated with a gang Esbensen et al, 2009;Winfree, Backstrom, & Mays, 1994 (Klein & Maxson, 2006), being male, and being an ethnic minority (Farmer & Hairston, 2013) have been found to increase the likelihood of affiliating with a gang.…”

Section: Individual Family Peer and School Predictors Of Gang Membmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The evidence regarding the role of other psychological factors in predicting gang membership is still mixed; for example, some recent studies have found that psychological characteristics such as low self-esteem and low empathy increase the likelihood that youth will join gangs (e.g., Donnellan, Trzesniewski, Robins, Moffitt, & Caspi, 2005 for self-esteem; Olate, Salas-Wright, & Vaughn, 2012 for empathy), but other studies have not (e.g., Esbensen et al, 2009;Lemus & Johnson, 2008 for self-esteem). Moreover, negative life events (Klein & Maxson, 2006), being male, and being an ethnic minority (Farmer & Hairston, 2013) have been found to increase the likelihood of affiliating with a gang.…”

Section: Individual Family Peer and School Predictors Of Gang Membmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, we focused on protective factors for gang membership to overcome the unitary focus on risk factors in past studies. We examined parental support because the evidence on its association with gang membership is rather mixed (Chu et al, 2012;Farmer & Hairston, 2013;Hill et al, 1999) and empathy because only a few studies have examined it as a protective factor for gang membership and it may easily become a target for intervention in school (Olate et al, 2012). Thus, based on the assumptions of Interactional Theory (Thornberry & Krohn, 2001), which emphasize the role of weakened social bonds in predicting gang membership along with reinforcement of delinquency, we predicted that higher levels of perceived parental support (Howell & Egley, 2005;Klein & Maxson, 2006) and higher levels of empathy will be associated with a lower likelihood of being part of a gang Lemus & Johnson, 2008).…”

Section: Aims and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Adolescent gang involvement: The role of individual, family, peer, and school factors in a multilevel perspective

Lenzi

Sharkey

Vieno

et al. 2014

Aggressive Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Youth gang involvement is a serious public health challenge as adolescents involved in gangs are more likely than others to engage in violence and aggression. To better understand gang involvement, we examined the role of protective (empathy and parental support) and risk (peer deviance and lack of safety at school) factors, as well as their interactions, in predicting adolescent gang affiliation. The study involved a sample of 26,232 students (53.4% females; mean age = 14.62, SD = 1.69) participating in the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), a survey investigating a wide range of youth health and risk behaviors administered in all California schools every 2 years. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), findings indicated that high levels of empathy and parental support were associated with a lower likelihood of affiliating with a gang. Associating with deviant peers and perceiving the school as unsafe were positively correlated with gang membership. At the school level, lack of safety and type of school (special education, vocational, or alternative school vs. comprehensive schools) were associated with greater probability of gang membership. Empathy mitigated the association between deviant peers and gang membership. Aggr. Behav. 41:386–397, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

show abstract

Section: Individual Family Peer and School Predictors Of Gang Membmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Individual Family Peer and School Predictors Of Gang Membmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Aims and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Adolescent gang involvement: The role of individual, family, peer, and school factors in a multilevel perspective

Lenzi

Sharkey

Vieno

et al. 2014

Aggressive Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Additionally important for the current study, prior research suggests that these school-related factors are especially important for females’ gang involvement (Bjerregaard & Smith, 1993; Esbensen & Deschenes, 1998; Esbensen et al, 2010; Hill, Howell, Hawkins, & Battin-Pearson, 1999; Maxson, Whitlock, & Klein, 1998; Peterson & Morgan, 2014). In addition to association with and commitment to deviant peers and low prosocial peer association/commitment (Esbensen et al, 2010; Hill et al, 1999; Thornberry et al, 2003), another important influence is relational problems with peers including peer rejection (Dishion, Nelson, & Yasui, 2005; Dishion, Veronneau, & Myers, 2010; Farmer & Hairston, 2013; Vigil, 2008; Warr, 2002). Finally, individual-realm risk factors include prior delinquency, nondelinquent problem behavior (e.g., low self-control), and prodelinquent beliefs (e.g., using neutralizations, feeling low guilt; Esbensen, Huizinga, & Weiher, 1993; Hill et al, 1999; Lahey, Gordon, Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber, & Farrington, 1999; Thornberry et al, 2003).…”

Section: Gang Joiningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, But Bullying Will Get Me Bangin’”: Bullying Involvement and Adolescent Gang Joining

Shelley

Peterson

2018

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Studies have shown that adolescents’ involvement in bullying (as perpetrators, victims, or both) is related to more negative outcomes than noninvolvement, and a small subset of studies has connected bullying to the specific outcome of gang involvement. However, most of these studies have been cross-sectional and have not examined causal pathways by which bullying and gang involvement may be related. Furthermore, some studies find sex differences in prevalence, type, and outcomes of bullying as well as in the relationship between bullying and gang involvement, suggesting important prevention implications, yet this remains under examined. Our study explicitly examines these issues identifying the overlap in bullying outcomes with antecedent gang risk factors, and suggesting potential direct and indirect effects of bullying on gang involvement; we test these relationships, and potential sex differences, using longitudinal data from the second National Evaluation of Gang Resistance Education and Training to overcome limitations of prior research. Consistent with our expectations, we find that (1) bully-victims exhibit the highest levels of risk; (2) bullies, victims, and bully-victims have increased odds of later gang joining, compared to uninvolved youth; (3) the inclusion of risk factors partially mediates the effect of bullying involvement on gang onset for bullies and victims and fully mediates the effect for bully-victims; and (4) some evidence of sex differences exists. Given these insights, greater connections between bullying and gang prevention efforts may be worthwhile.

show abstract

“…Should the questionnaire prove able to discriminate between these groups then we would have the basis for apply for funding to conduct the longitudinal study of the questionnaire's predictive validity, described above. As males were significantly over-represented in the gang affiliated population 2 (Decker & Pyrooz, 2013;Pyrooz & Sweeten, 2015;Farmer & Hairston, 2013), and the UK Office of the Children's Commissioner (2015) had undertaken extensive research on female gang affiliation, this study focused on a male population only.…”

Section: Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, development and validity testing of the gang affiliation risk measure (GARM)

Raby

Jones

Hulbert

et al. 2017

The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study aimed to create a measure of risk for gang affiliation, for use in the UK. A pilot stage invited gang affiliated and non-gang affiliated participants between the ages of 16-25 years to retrospectively self-report on 58 items of risk exposure at the age of 11 years. Based on performance of these items, a 26-item measure was developed and administered to a main study sample (n=185) of gang affiliated and non-gang affiliated participants. Categorical Principal Component Analysis was applied to data, yielding a single-factor solution (historic lack of safety and current perception of threat). A 15-item gang affiliation risk measure (GARM) was subsequently created. The GARM demonstrated good internal consistency, construct validity and discriminative ability. Items from the GARM were then transformed to read prospectively, resulting in a test measure for predictive purposes (T-GARM). The T-GARM requires further validation regarding its predictive utility and generalisability.However, this study has resulted in the first measure of gang affiliation, with promising results.

show abstract

Predictors of Gang Membership: Variations Across Grade Levels

Cited by 14 publications

References 23 publications

Adolescent gang involvement: The role of individual, family, peer, and school factors in a multilevel perspective

Adolescent gang involvement: The role of individual, family, peer, and school factors in a multilevel perspective

“Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, But Bullying Will Get Me Bangin’”: Bullying Involvement and Adolescent Gang Joining

Design, development and validity testing of the gang affiliation risk measure (GARM)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About