Sociological measurement confusion,paradigmatic imperfection,and etiological nirvana: Striking a pragmatic balance in pursuing science

Extant gang research supports an enhancement effect of membership on delinquency; that is, while delinquent youths may be attracted to gangs, it is also true that gang membership increases delinquency among youths and that while delinquency levels decrease after gang membership, they do not decrease to nongang levels. In this paper, we build on this research, examining the relationship between youth gang membership and violent victimization in a general sample of adolescents. We find that gang member victimization rates are higher than nongang member rates, not only during membership, but before and after as well. Thus an enhancement model of gang membership appears to best fit both offending and victimization rates. This effect of gang affiliation on victimization goes beyond gang members' involvement in violent offending; violence and gang status equate with cumulative disadvantage in terms of violent victimization. Additionally, contrary to gang youths' perceptions, gangs appear to offer no protective value to gang members; we find no differences in violent victimization between youths who joined gangs for protection and those who joined for other reasons, either before or after joining.     

Does it matter if those who matter don't mind? Effects of gang versus delinquent peer group membership on labeling processes

Despite renewed interests in the labeling perspective and the impact of official intervention on individuals’ future outcomes, scant attention has been given to potential conditioning factors for theorized labeling processes. We argue that, when viewed through a symbolic interactionist lens, variations in the nature of primary social groups, through which individuals filter official labels like arrest, may generate patterns for subsequent self-concept and delinquency that are contrary to what labeling theory indicates. To test our rationale, we offer a moderated mediation model in which gang membership is expected to differentially impact the effect of arrest on future delinquency through an intermediary mechanism: self-esteem. We test a gang–nongang dichotomy and then probe further to test whether hypothesized effects are gang specific or occur similarly for nongang youths with highly delinquent peer groups. Analyzed using Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS) data (N = 961), comparisons between gang members and nonaffiliated youths with similarly highly delinquent peer groups revealed no significant differences in conditional indirect effects of arrest on self-esteem and future delinquency; the two groups were similarly insulated from any negative impact of arrest on self-esteem. For nongang youths with fewer delinquent peers, however, arrest significantly reduced later self-esteem, which in turn increased their future delinquency.     

Girls, guys, and gangs: Convergence or divergence in the gendered construction of gangs and groups

Despite recent efforts to examine and understand female gang membership, the research literature lacks a complete picture of how gender and gang membership work to shape perceptions of the structural characteristics of gangs, gang values, and gang activities. A questionnaire was administered to 103 youths (seventy-four male and twenty-nine female juvenile detainees) in St. Louis, Missouri, to disentangle the effects of gender and gang membership on perceptions of values, activities, and organizational characteristics of gangs. Gang members differed from nongang members more than males from females. This suggests that gender alone may not be able to account for differential perceptions of gang and nongang youth and that underlying social processes affect both groups.     

Gang affiliation,aggression, and violent offending in a sample of youth offenders

Abstract

Gang affiliation, aggression, and violent offending were examined in case files of 390 youth offenders aged between 16 and 18 years. Results indicated that youth offenders who were gang members and those who were not gang members but exposed to friends in gangs had a significantly higher likelihood of violent offending compared with a reference group of youth offenders who had neither gang affiliation nor friends in gangs. Additionally, youth offenders who had friends in gangs but were themselves not gang members had a lower likelihood of violent offending than youth offenders who were gang members. Finally, results showed that a history of aggressive behavior was significantly associated with violent offending. Implications such as the need to address the influence of delinquent peers and need to address the management of anger and aggression in youths will be discussed. Also, findings point towards the need for prevention and early intervention work.     

Youth gang membership and serious violent victimization: the importance of lifestyles and routine activities

Youth gangs have received substantial scholarly and public attention during the past two decades. Although most of the extant research on youth gang members has focused on their offending behaviors, recent studies have examined the victimization of youth gang members relative to their nongang peers. Gang members generally have been found to be at increased risk of victimization, although the reasons for this relationship have not fully been explored. The current study uses data from a multisite study of youth to explore whether the gang membership-victimization link is mediated by lifestyles and routine activities. In other words, is gang members' involvement in delinquent lifestyles and routine activities a viable explanation for their increased risk of serious violent victimization? Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research and policy are discussed.     

Arrest and the Amplification of Deviance: Does Gang Membership Moderate the Relationship?

Although research has found that gang suppression efforts are largely ineffective, these policies have been responsible for the arrests of many gang youth. Prior research indicates that arrest is associated with deleterious consequences, but we know less about how arrest uniquely affects gang members. Using longitudinal data from a school-based sample, this study explores the effects of arrest for both gang and nongang youth. Propensity score matching and matched outcome analyses allow us to determine whether gang membership moderates the effect of arrest on later deviant outcomes. Our results indicate that the consequences of arrest are inconsistent with the goals of suppression tactics, with gang members reporting little to no change in deviant attitudes and peers and modest increases in delinquency. Meanwhile, nongang youth experience a range of consequences associated with arrest, including increased odds of gang-joining.     

Groups, gangs, and delinquency: Does organization matter?

Purpose

A consistent finding of research on delinquency has been that gang members show higher levels of delinquent behavior than non-gang members. However, research attempting to understand the mechanisms underlying this finding is lacking. The basic premise of the current article is that the level of organization found in delinquent groups and gangs matters in clarifying the relationship between membership and delinquency.

Methods

This article examined the association between organization and delinquency in a sample of 523 self-reported juvenile offenders from a high school survey conducted in the province of Quebec, Canada.

Results

The results showed that 1) there is clearly something special about membership in a gang that influences delinquency beyond the more general membership in a delinquent group; 2) the key to understanding finding lies, in part, in the level of organization found in gangs. Organization emerged as the most important factor associated with general delinquency, involvement in violence, and in drug supply offences, significantly (but not completely) reducing the effect of gang membership on delinquency.

Conclusions

Even if most delinquent associations show little signs of formal structure and organization, this study demonstrates the importance of organization as a key mechanism to understand the gang effect on delinquency.     

The Influence of Dating Relationships on Friendship Networks,Identity Development,and Delinquency

Prior research has documented general associations between dating and delinquency, but little is known about the specific ways in which heterosexual experiences influence levels of delinquency involvement and substance use. In the current study, we hypothesize that an adolescent's level of effort and involvement in heterosexual relationships play a significant role in forming the types of friendship networks and views of self that influence the likelihood of delinquency involvement and substance use. Analyses based on a longitudinal sample of adolescent youth (n = 1,090) show that high levels of dating effort and involvement with multiple partners significantly increases unstructured and delinquent peer contacts, and influences self‐views as troublemaker. These broader peer contexts and related self‐views, in turn, mediate the path between dating relationships, self‐reported delinquency, and substance use. Findings also document moderation effects: among those youths who have developed a troublemaker identity and who associate with delinquent peers, dating heightens the risk for delinquent involvement. In contrast, among those individuals who have largely rejected the troublemaker identity and who do not associate with delinquent friends, dating relationships may confer a neutral or even protective benefit. The analyses further explore the role of gender and the delinquency of the romantic partner.     

ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND YOUTH GANG MEMBERSHIP: SELECTION AND SOCIALIZATION

We examine whether gang membership is associated with higher levels of delinquency because boys predisposed to delinquent activity are more likely than others to join. We use 10 years of longitudinal data from 858 participants of the Pittsburgh Youth Study to identify periods before, during and after gang membership. We build on prior research by controlling for ages and calendar time, by better accounting for gang memberships that occurred before the study began, and by using fixed effects statistical models. We find more evidence than has been found in prior studies that boys who join gangs are more delinquent before entering the gang than those who do not join. Even with such selective differences, however, we replicate research showing that drug selling, drug use, violent behaviors and vandalism of property increase significantly when a youth joins a gang. The delinquency of peers appears to be one mechanism of socialization. These findings are clearest in youth self-reports, but are also evident in reports from parents and teachers on boys' behavior and delinquency. Once we adjust for time trends, we find that the increase in delinquency is temporary, that delinquency falls to pre-gang levels when boys leave gangs.     

PEER SIMILARITY IN DELINQUENCY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF FRIENDS: A COMPARISON USING TWO MEASUREMENT METHODS*

Peer similarity in delinquency has been studied extensively. But basic questions remain about measuring peer delinquency and how important the nature of relationships with delinquent peers is. This article uses data from the NSCR School Project, which has collected unusually detailed information about delinquent peers and the social networks of adolescents. We examine differences in the roles of regular friends and best friends with regard to peer similarity in delinquent behavior. We also contrast two methods of measuring peer delinquency: the conventional one of asking respondents about their peers, and the social network method, by which peers report about themselves. The results show that respondents can have best and regular friends who differ in their degree of delinquency, and that the association between respondent and peer delinquency does not differ much between friends and best friends. At the same time, our results suggest that both types of peers influence the level of respondent delinquency. Measures based on the direct network method resulted in higher estimates of peer delinquency, but in lower estimates of the association between respondent and peer delinquency.     

GANG MEMBERSHIP AS A TURNING POINT IN THE LIFE COURSE*

Gang‐involved youth are disproportionately involved in criminal behavior, especially violence. The processes accounting for this enhanced illegal activity, however, remain speculative. Employing a life‐course perspective, we propose that gang membership can be conceptualized as a turning point in the lives of youth and is thus associated with changes in emotions, attitudes, and routine activities, which, in turn, increase illegal activity. Using prospective data from a multisite sample of more than 1,400 youth, the findings suggest that the onset of gang membership is associated with a substantial change in emotions, attitudes, and social controls conducive to delinquency and partially mediate the impact of gang membership on delinquent activity. Desistance from gangs, however, was not associated with similar systematic changes in these constructs, including delinquent involvement.     

Does gang membership pay? Illegal and legal earnings through emerging adulthood*

Gang membership is believed to impede success in the legitimate economic market while simultaneously supporting success in the illegal market. We extend the study of the economic effects of gang membership by using a within‐ and between‐individual analytic design, decomposing gang membership into multiple statuses (i.e., entering a gang, continuously in a gang, leaving a gang, and inactive gang membership), examining legal and illegal earnings simultaneously, and accounting for factors endogenous to gang membership that may contribute to economic achievement. By using panel data from 1,213 individuals who participated in the Pathways to Desistance Study to conduct a multilevel path analysis, we find that active gang membership status is unrelated to legal earnings. Alternatively, entering a gang is associated with increased illegal earnings, attributable to changes in delinquent peers and drug use, whereas leaving a gang has a direct relationship with decreased illegal earnings. Our results indicate that the positive economic effect of gang membership (i.e., illegal earnings and total earnings) is short‐lived and that, on balance, the sum of the gang membership experience does not “pay” in terms of overall earnings.     

Using Propensity Score Matching to Understand the Relationship between Gang Membership and Violent Victimization: A Research Note

Due to methodological limitations, such as unmatched gang samples and a lack of longitudinal investigations, it remains unresolved whether joining a gang leads to future violent victimization or both share a set of common causes. Guided by selection, facilitation, and enhancement perspectives, the current study applied Propensity Score Matching on data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training longitudinal study to investigate the nature of the gang‐violent victimization relationship. Results indicated antecedent differences between those who did and did not join gangs, particularly violent victimization and delinquency. When gang and non‐gang members with similar propensities for joining were matched, the relationship between gang membership and violent victimization dissipated. Findings suggest policy attention to early delinquency and victimization risk factors generally.     

DELINQUENT PEERS IN CONTEXT: A LONGITUDINAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF SELECTION AND INFLUENCE EFFECTS*

In this article, longitudinal social network data are analyzed to get a better understanding of the interplay between delinquent peers and delinquent behavior. These data contain detailed information about the social networks of secondary school students from the same grade, their delinquent behavior, and many relevant correlates of network formation and delinquency. To distinguish selection and influence processes, a method (Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analyses, SIENA) is used in which network formation and changes in delinquency are simulated simultaneously within the context of other network processes and correlates of delinquency. The data and the method used make it possible to investigate an unusually wide array of effects on peer selection and delinquent behavior. The results indicate that similarity in delinquency has no significant effect on the selection of school friends when other network dynamics are taken into account. However, the average delinquency level of someone's friends in the school network does have a significant, although relatively small, effect on delinquent behavior of the respondents, beyond significant effects of changes in the level of self‐control and morality. Another peer‐related change, leaving or joining informal street‐oriented youth groups, also appears to have a substantial effect on changes in delinquency.     

Gang involvement and delinquency in a middle school population

The relationship between self-reported gang involvement and self-reported delinquency has been confirmed in a number of studies. However, there have been fewer studies of the relationship between self-reported gang involvement and officially recorded delinquency. This article examines variation in self-reported gang involvement, operationalized as three distinct categories—no involvement, gang involvement but not membership, and gang membership—and its relation to both self-reported and officially recorded delinquency for a population of middle school youths.     

THE INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF PEER VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY

Drawing on relevant theory and research, it is argued that the impact of delinquent peers on delinquency is conditioned by (1) attachment to peers, (2) time spent with peers, and (3) the extent to which peers present delinquent patterns (i.e., present definitions favorable to delinquency, model delinquent behavior, and differentially rein force delinquency). Regression analyses with data from the National Youth Survey provide partial support for these arguments. When the above variables are at their mean or lower levels, a measure of association with peers who engage in serious delinquency has no impact or a negative impact on delinquency. When the above variables are at higher levels, delinquent peers (serious) has a strong, positive impact on delinquency. A measure of association with peers who engage in minor delinquency, however, is not conditioned by the above variables.     

Treatment of Gang Members Can Reduce Recidivism and Institutional Misconduct

Gang violence creates serious safety and security concerns in the community and prisons. Treated gang and nongang members recidivated significantly less in a 24-month follow-up than their untreated matched controls. Treatment consisted of high intensity cognitive-behavioral programs that follow the risk, need, and responsivity principles (Andrews & Bonta, 2003). The treated gang members who recidivated violently after treatment received significantly shorter sentences (i.e. they committed less serious offences) than their untreated matched controls. Untreated gang members had significantly higher rates of major (but not minor) institutional offences than the other three groups. Correctional treatment that follows the risk, need and responsivity principles appears able to reduce recidivism and major institutional misconduct. Effective correctional treatment should be considered as one of the approaches in the management and rehabilitation of incarcerated gang members.     

DELINQUENT PEER INFLUENCE ON OFFENDING VERSATILITY: CAN PEERS PROMOTE SPECIALIZED DELINQUENCY?

The consistent and robust relationship between peers and frequency of offending is often cited as evidence that friends play an important role in adolescent behavioral tendencies. But Warr (2002) has argued that the empirical support for peer perspectives remains equivocal in part because research has not demonstrated that individuals and their peers display similarities in the qualitative form of their delinquent behavior (i.e., the tendency to specialize in delinquent acts). By using data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) evaluation (N = 1,390) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (AddHealth) (N = 1,848), this study seeks to fill this void in the literature by examining whether having friends who display specialization in specific delinquent acts relative to other offense types predicts an individual's own tendency to display specializing in those same crime types. Consistent with peer influence perspectives, the results of multilevel latent‐trait models (Osgood and Schreck, 2007) suggest that individuals who associate with friends who demonstrate specialization in violence, theft, and substance use are more likely to display greater levels of specialization in those offense types themselves.     

Girl Members of Deviant Youth Groups,Offending Behaviour and Victimisation: Results from the ISRD2 in Italy and Switzerland

Although a lot of research has been conducted on the delinquency of boys who are members of gangs, only a few quantitative studies have analysed the involvement of girl gang members in delinquency and its link with victimisation. In this study, the prevalence rates of girls who are members of gangs in Italy and in Switzerland are shown. We compared the Italian data (N = 5.784) and Swiss data (N = 3.459) from the second wave of the International Self-Reported Delinquency Study (ISRD-2); the population used for this comparison was made up of teenagers from the ages of 13 to 16. Members of deviant youth groups accounted for 5.7% of the Italian sample and 4.7% of the Swiss sample; in both countries, about a third of gang members were girls. In general, girls who are members of gangs commit more delinquent acts than both girls and boys who are not members of gangs. Girl gang members are also more often victimised than girls and boys who are not members of a deviant youth group.