The study investigated the roles of peer influence, family cohesion, and self-worth on youth gang involvement. The study finds that peer influence, family cohesion, and self-worth have an effect on initial gang involvement, but only family cohesion and gender have any influence on gang involvement across time. Males are more likely to be gang involved than females. Greater family cohesion reduced gang activity across time. This research suggests that family-based interventions and efforts to promote positive peer relationships might decrease the likelihood of gang involvement.

Key words: gang involvement, adolescence, family cohesion, peer influence, self-worth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.1.Background to the study

Worldwide studies have indicated that a great number of gang groups are composed of youth members and a formed at a tender age.In the United States, there are an estimated 29,000 gangs and nearly 750,000 members; 260,000 of those are adolescents. Adolescents make up 30–40% of these members highlighting that many members continue involvement into adulthood. 46% of members are Hispanic or Latino, 35% Black or African Americans, 11% White and the remaining 7% are of mixed races/ethnicities. Weerman et al. (2009), suggest that a gang is a durable, street oriented youth group whose involvement in illegal activity is part of their group identity.

Youth and gang members in the US and the UK are overwhelmingly young on entry to the gang with 12 – 18 year old youth being most at risk (Rizzo, 2003; Spergel, 1995); once a member, some continue membership well into their 20s or even older (Bullock & Tilley, 2002; Rizzo, 2003; Shropshire&McFarquhar; 2002; Spergel, 1995).Research observers and gang members have indicated that the gang is like a family in many ways for many disadvantaged children. Also, the gang can be very appealing to immigrant or newcomer youth in urban areas where they are more likely to be isolated culturally, socially, and/or economically from their communities. Gang leaders provide guidance, warmth, and affection that are very likely missing in the young person’s life (New York City Youth Board, 1960).

Young people join gangs for a variety of reasons. According to Witkin (1991), adult gang members hire youngsters to run drugs, because penalties are so much weaker if they are caught (Witkin, 1991). A study of African-American gang in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, revealed that the founder of each gang who was interviewed had left school prematurely–most were expelled for fighting (Brantley &DiRosa, 1994). Yet, other researches show that some youth join gang because of their needs or wishes for recognition or status, safety or security, power, excitement, and new experiences–particularly under conditions of social deprivation (Thomas and Znaniecki, 1918). Joining a gang is also a way for youth to achieve status, as well as self-importance (Yablonsky, 1962).

Youth whose self-esteem has been damaged by parents, peer rejection, and school failures may find new identity and self-worth through being in the gang. According to Short and Strodtbeck (1965)for some youth, gangs provide away of solving social adjustment problems,particularly the trials and tribulations ofadolescence.Similarly, Brantley and Di Rosa (1994) indicated thatthose youth who willingly join gang do so in an attempt to satisfy needs unfulfilled in other aspects of their lives

The basic needs of youth who join gang may include the lack of family structure, lack of a nurturing home environment, lack of economic opportunity, and/or lack of a sense of belonging (Brantley & Di Rosa, 1994). Gang provides young people with identity, protection, and friendship that may not exist in the home. The dynamics of gang formation is a normal developmental process for many youth. As was indicated by Ponce (1994), at a certain age, youth change their focus from bonds from adults to bonds with peers. It is a process of self-identity, autonomy, and social support (Ponce, 1990).

Research also shows that the origins of youth delinquency or youth affiliation with delinquent groups are related to the defect of individual personal and social disorders in family relationships. That may include such thing as parental characters and/or early child rearing practices by adults or caregiver of an individual youth (Rutter &Giller, 1983).When closer look is taken within the different types of gang, it could be found that the relationship between gang and violence depends primarily on the gang’s organization. Some gangs are organized to fight, while others are organized to make money. Yet, others are organized for protection.

The level of violence depends exclusively on thetype of gang. Research shows that gang involvement in violence and homicide is more often turfrelated than drug related. Research showing the relationship among gang, drug sales, andviolence concluded that gang-motivated homicides were less likely than other homicides toinvolve drugs, and victims of gang motivated homicides were less likely to involve gang members.Similar researches also show that psychological factors, such as the need for affiliation,the need for achievement, low self-esteem, lack of positive role models, and boredom, alsocontribute to a child’s decision to join a gang (Lawson, 1994). For some kids, guns, gangs, anddrugs are simply the vehicles through which to satisfy more basic yearnings.

Aims and Objectives of the study

The study was guided by the following objective;

1. To establish the role of peer influence on youth gang involvement
2. To establish the influence of family cohesion youth gang involvement
3. To find out how individual self worth is affected when one is involved in gang related activities

Methodology

The study targeted 343 respondent who are youth residing inthe northern states.The male subjects comprised about three-fourths or 74% of the total sample. About one-fourth or 26% were female subjects. The data was collected using questionnaires. The subjects were handed questionnaires that consisted of thirteen items. The items were constructed to uncover the respondent’s motivation to join gang.

Most of the items use the Likert scale with a range of five.Five of the thirteen questions inquired about the benefits of joining a gang. Four of the questions attempted to identify the primary motivations of youth involvement in a gang. Most of the data was collected from public, social, and educational events where many youth were congregating. These events included soccer tournaments, parties, new-year celebrations, as well as other school and social events.

Upon approaching a group of youths/young adults, the researcher explained the purpose of the study as described above to all of the subjects. When subjects agreed to participate in the study, they were asked to sign a consent form.After the consent forms were signed, the researcher handed out the questionnaire and asked the subjects to proceed in answering the questions. Subjects were also encouraged to ask questions if they did not understand a particular question. The data was analyzed in was analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results

The results of the descriptive statistics of the results are as shown in the table below

Descriptive Statistics
	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
id	343	1	343	172.00	99.160
Age of juvenile	340	11	18	16.37	.989
Sex of juvenile	342	1	2	1.31	.464
Race of Juvenile	339	1	3	1.32	.480
What parents do you live with?	340	1	24	1.73	1.539
How old is your mother?	328	1	3	2.81	.415
How old is your father?	299	0	3	2.88	.370
Did your mother graduate high school?	340	1	3	1.14	.357
Did your father graduate high school?	311	0	2	1.11	.319
Has your mother ever been convicted of a crime?	341	1	2	1.96	.185
Has your father ever been convicted of a crime?	309	0	2	1.92	.285
Does your mother drink alcohol?	341	1	2	1.79	.409
Does your father drink alcohol?	311	0	4	1.66	.500
Does your mother use drugs?	341	1	2	1.97	.169
Does your father use drugs?	311	0	2	1.94	.260
How many brothers and sisters do you have?	338	0	15	1.94	1.801
What type of house do you live in?	340	0	5	1.41	.945
How long have you lived at your current address (in months)	327	1	240	88.77	70.164
How many homes are there in your neighborhood that are boarded up or have broken windows?	328	0	60	.57	3.598
School grade	308	0	12	10.46	1.482
Are you involved in any clubs or sports in school?	337	1	2	1.39	.488
Do you have a curfew at home?	335	1	2	1.24	.427
When are you required to be at home (combinations represent multiple responses)?	266	0	234	20.11	42.208
How many hours a week do you spend with your parents (not counting sleeping)?	280	0	170	21.10	22.480
Do you ever go to church?	335	1	6	1.36	.540
How often have you skipped school?	336	1	7	2.43	1.885
What kind of alcohol have you consumed (combinations represent multiple responses)?	339	1	234	52.09	93.201
How often do you consume any type of alcohol?	203	1	146	4.20	10.248
Have you ever used illegal drugs (combinations represent multiple responses)?	286	1	234678	1855.42	19667.487
How often have you used drugs?	59	1	6	3.49	2.037
Have you ever been in trouble with the law over drugs or alcohol?	280	1	6	1.97	.332
Have you ever been in trouble at school because of drugs or alcohol?	283	1	2	1.97	.176
Have you ever skipped school because you had been drinking or doing drugs?	282	1	2	1.93	.251
Do you think guns are becoming a problem in your neighborhood or school?	284	1	2	1.55	.498
Have you ever seen anyone at your school with a gun?	285	1	2	1.56	.497
Have you ever been in a group where someone was carrying a gun?	282	1	2	1.62	.486
Have you ever carried a gun out with you when you went out at night?	283	1	14	1.89	.807
Do you regularly carry a gun with you?	257	1	2	1.94	.235
Are there people in your neighborhood or school who say they are in a gang?	282	1	2	1.37	.483
Are you in a gang?	275	1	2	1.92	.272
How long (in years) have you been in a gang?	26	0	24	3.88	5.231
Have you ever gotten into a fight with a gang member?	257	0	2	1.77	.428
How many times have you been arrested?	282	0	24	.30	1.567
How many times have you committed a crime but not been caught?	270	0	1000	6.13	62.831
How many times have you been convicted of a crime?	278	0	2	.10	.350
Have any of your arrests involved a firearm?	240	0	2	1.93	.334

 

Discussions

From the results in the table above the youth captured for the study were in the age bracket of (11-18) majority of them being male and a small number were female. White youths were in greater number than the non-white. A large number of the respondents live with both there parents while just a few don’t have parents, are sing parent or stay with there grand parents. A maximum (3) number of the respondents parents are at the age above 40 years while a minimum of them are less than 40 years, and most of there parents graduated high school. The results show that most of there parents have not been convicted of any crimes.

Most of the respondent’s mothers do not take alcohol but half of the respondents fathers do take alcohol this is indicated by the std.dev (.500).the results shows that majority of the parents do not use drugs and they do have brothers and sisters and they live in a house their neighborhood or home most suggested that they do have and there are bordered houses with broken windows too.

Most respondents in this study are in the 12^th grade and are involved in clubs and sports activities in school. When they were asked if they do have curfews at their neighborhood or home most suggested that they do have and there are bordered houses with broken windows too. This makes it a requirement to majority of them to be in the house early. Majority of the respondent spend most of there time with there parents and they do go to church also they do not skip school.

When respondents were asked the kind of alcohol they have ever consumed most of them indicated that they have never consumed any type of alcohol nor used illegal drugs however, a few of them have consumed beer. He studies indicate that a large number has never bee troubled at school because of neither alcohol nor drugs. Also none of them has skipped school due to cases of drugs.

Majority of respondents think that guns are becoming a problem in their neighborhood and school since most indicate that they have seen people with guns and some have been in groups where people have guns. However majority of them have never committed a crime nor convicted of a crime .Most of the respondents suggested that there are people in there neighborhood who proclaim to be members of a gang but they themselves are not member of any gang .although there are minority of the respondents who have agreed to have been members of a gang for a period of two years but have never been into any fight nor arrested despite agreeing to the fact that they have committed a crime quite a number of times. Most of them have never been convicted nor involved in firearms arrest.

Conclusions

The results demonstrate that youth join gang for quite a lot of reasons. Some of the main reasons they reported are friends, socialization, protection, and power. The result of this study indicates that youth join gang to fulfill developmentallyappropriate needs that are lacking in the home, at school, or in their communities. Friends giveyouth a sense of acceptance and belonging. At the same time, a gang becomes a social domainfor youth who may be searching for an identity.

Protection and power can be seen as opposite sides of the same coin. The protection thegang affords gives teenagers a sense of security at home, in their schools, and in theircommunities. They may not otherwise feel safe and protected if they were not in a gang.However, gangs typically provide protection through displays of power. These displays caninclude violence or threats of violence. Engaging in these types of activities can be veryrewarding, particularly for adolescents who have felt downtrodden most of their lives.

In summary, the findings of this study suggest that youth experience a sense ofisolation and discrimination from the larger community. These youths search for friends whounderstand them and the reality that they face. Hmong youth may also be experiencing a senseof boredom, as well as a sense of hopelessness about the future. Joining a gang increases ayouth’s chance to get these needs met and fulfill what is missing in his/her life.

Recommendations

 

The gang issue is a widespread concern for every community across the United States. For community leaders and professional workers to work toward reducing the youth gang issues,special community resources will need to set aside to address the core issues. The data reveals pattern that these youths lack the necessary community supports and protections they need.Consequently, they feel rejected and isolated from their families and the general population.

To counter this,Programs could be developed within the school system to reduce the attractiveness of gangs. First of all, students need to feel safe at school and officials need to do all in their power to maximize the subjective feeling of security on the part of the students. This can be accomplished, in part, with a comprehensive conflict resolution program. Such a program must deal promptly and decisively with small difficulties, thereby preventing youth from seeking protection from gangs.

Reference

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            Enforcement, 1-19.

Bullock, K., & Tilley, N.2002. Shootings, gangs and violent incidents in Manchester:         Developing a crime reduction strategy. Crime Reduction Research Series Paper 13,        London, UK: Home Office.

Lawson, B. R. 1994. Design in Mind. Oxford, Butterworth Architecture.

New York City Youth Board. 1960. Reaching the Fighting Gang. New York City Youth

Board. New York: N.Y.

Ponce, S. 1990. Gangs: A handbook for teachers and counselors working with immigrant

students. Los Angeles Unified School District, CA.

Rizzo, M. 2003. Why do children join gangs? Journal of Gang Research, 11, 65-74.

Rutter, M. &Giller, H. 1983. Juvenile delinquency: Trends and perspectives. New York, NY:

The Guilford Press.

Shropshire, S., &McFarquhar, M.2002. Developing multi-agency strategies to address the street gang culture and reduce gun violence among young people (Briefing No. 4). Manchester: Steve Shropshire and Michael McFarquhar Consultancy Group.

Spergel, I. A. 1995. The youth gang problem. NY: Oxford.

Thomas, W. I. &Znaniecki, F. 1918. The polish plant in Europe and America. Chicago, IL:

University of Chicago Press

Weerman, F. M., Maxson, C. L., Esbensen, F., Aldridge, J., Medina, J., & van Gemert, F. 2009,   Eurogang program manual background, development, and use of the Eurogang instruments in multi-site, multi-method comparative research. Retrieved from the Eurogang Network website:

http://www.umsl.edu/~ccj/eurogang/Eurogang_20Manual.pdf

Witkin, G. 1991, April 26. Kids who kill. U.S. News and World Report (26), 5-11.

Yablonsky, L. 1962 The violent gang. New York, NY: The Macmillan Co.

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