Seeking a secure base: Gangs as attachment figures

Abstract

<jats:p> Street gangs are problematic throughout the world. Youth involved with street gangs are at a higher risk for winding up seriously physically injured, dead, or incarcerated. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine (a) how the childhood experiences of former gang members shape their decision to join a gang and (b) the factors that contribute to former gang members’ decision to disengage from gang membership. This study will promote the use of attachment theory to analyze motivating/disengagement factors for gang involvement. The voices of 14 former gang members are heard through qualitative interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify the following themes: Lack of Family Consistency, Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Unity: Gang as Replacement Family, “No other Option,” and “Jail, Death, or a Turnaround:” Making the Decision to Disengage. Findings could be used to aid in youth gang prevention and intervention. </jats:p>

The Lure of the Law for the Formerly Convicted: Pursuing the Legal Profession as a Resistance Strategy

“…Although not initially part of our semi-structured interview guide, we also started to probe respondents about gang affiliations and involvement after multiple respondents raised the issue. Similar to prior qualitative gang research (see, for example, De Vito 2020), some of our respondents reflected on the positive family and social structure that the gang provided given the existing normalization of crime and violence: “So like 15, 16, yeah, I’m getting jumped, though getting jumped and all that was very normal to me … so I started to—I joined [the gang], I was like, maybe 16, got really close to them…. I still consider them my brothers because they were there for me, you know?…”

Keeping violent offender rehabilitation on track: How the diffusion and redirecting of attentional focus/mood work in the GRIP program

“…More to the point, this paper shows why future studies might examine diffusion and redirecting processes. We have only just begun exploring the prospect that these two processes can undergird (1) the sense among trauma survivors that their at-once individual and group-related strengths may be powerful enough to help them continue on their paths to recovery (Stige et al, 2019); (2) the mobilization of trauma treatment strategies specific to those either in gangs or in settings plagued by gang cultures (De Vito, 2019); and (3) the effectiveness of somatically oriented trauma-treatment programs. In closing, we hope further research based on AV data will clarify the degree to which the two microinteractional processes interrogated in this article amount to the secrets of success in both GRIP-like and non-GRIP-like group therapeutic settings.…”

“…Another pertinent article is De Vito's (2019) examination of how street gangs generate sense of belonging capable of filling voids associated with intergenerational trauma. Former gang members report having a lack of consistency with their primary caregivers (often because of death, substance abuse, incarceration, or requirements associated with working multiple jobs).…”

“This might be cliché, but it was a sense of family”: Gang involvement among Indigenous young adults and their search for attachment, community, and hope

“…Additionally, gang members can become attachment figures though peer attachments are unable to provide the unconditional love necessary to be healthy attachment figures which then perpetuates attachment trauma (Neufeld & Maté, 2013). In short, gangs fulfil attachment needs and offer a space of belonging for those who otherwise feel excluded (Ainsworth, 1989; Bowlby, 1988; De Vito, 2020).…”