Social Networks, Delinquency, and Gang Membership: Using a Neighborhood Framework to Examine the Influence of Network Composition and Structure in a Latino Community

The Role of Adolescent Friendship Group Integration and Cohesion in Weapon-Related Violent Crime as a Young Adult

“…Recent studies (Braga et al 2001; Fleisher 2006; Hughes 2013; Papachristos et al 2013; Roman et al 2012) have successfully employed social network analysis to study group social networks and delinquent behavior, and our research will advance this literature. The data for our analyses come from Add Health, a nationally representative U.S. survey of 7 th through 12 th grade students, which is well-suited for social network analysis.…”

Group Cohesiveness, Gang Member Prestige, and Delinquency and Violence in Chicago, 1959–1962

“…Popularity is considered the most basic measure of structural prestige because it focuses solely on direct friendship choices (de Nooy, Mrvar, and Batagelj, ). In supplementary analyses (complete results available on request), I also examine the effect of measures of prestige focusing on indirect ties, including closeness centrality based on relational distances between gang members (see, e.g., Haynie, ; Roman et al, ) and proximity prestige , which is the proportion of all members tied to the gang member actor divided by their mean distance from the actor (de Nooy, Mrvar, and Batagelj, ). As another check, I report regression coefficients for normalized indegree, which divides indegree by the maximum number of possible ties, N – 1, and for k ‐cores computed using undirected ties and representing the largest k ‐connected friendship subgroup to which each gang member belongs (where k is the minimum number of friendship ties involving each subgroup member).…”

“…In a recent review of the literature, Decker, Melde, and Pyrooz (: 16) noted that social network analysis “offers a viable alternative” to traditional methods of studying gangs, “as it inherently focuses on the micro level of explanation.” Indeed, the approach has been employed successfully to address a variety of gang phenomena, such as intergang conflict and murder networks (Braga et al, ; Kennedy, Braga, Piehl, ; Kennedy, Piehl, Braga, ; Kennedy et al, ; Papachristos, ; Papachristos, Hureau, and Braga, ), linkages between gang social networks and physical space (Tita and Radil, ); relationships between ego‐centered social networks, gang membership, and delinquency (Fleisher and Krienert, ; Roman et al, ; see also Pyrooz, Sweeten, and Piquero, ); and the structure of gang member ties, including subgroups, boundaries, and paths of resource acquisition (Fleisher, ; Klein, ; Lien, ; McGloin, ; Papachristos, ). Unfortunately, lack of relational data at the group level has prevented analysis of the association between gang member behavior and cohesiveness in the structure of intragang friendship ties.…”

“…In one of the first studies of gang member social networks, McGloin (; see also Papachristos, ) identified potentially important “cut‐points” in the associational ties of more than 700 gang members from several large gang constellations in Newark, NJ. Other research has examined the behavioral influence of friendship ties among gang and nongang youth in a poor Latino neighborhood in Maryland (Roman et al, ) and among female members of three gangs in a poor Black neighborhood in Champaign, IL (Fleisher and Krienert, ). Extending this literature, the current study focuses on the association between gang member behavior and structural prestige within the context of the gang.…”

Assessing Youth Motivations for Joining a Peer Group as Risk Factors for Delinquent and Gang Behavior

“…While prior research suggests that there may be important differences between neighborhood groups and the nature of delinquent and gang activity across neighborhoods because of racial-ethnic factors (Decker, Bynum & Weisel, 1998), prior analyses using these survey data suggest that the underlying structural processes related to social networks are similar (Cahill et al, 2011;Roman et al, 2012). Therefore, we combine the sites' data and control for potential differences by including a dummy site variable and a race or ethnicity variable (Black and Hispanic) in our models.…”