Adrienne Freng

Gang Membership as a Risk Factor for Adolescent Violent Victimization

Youth gangs and violence have received substantial scholarly and public attention during the past two decades. While most of the extant research on youth gang members has focused on their offending behaviors, few quantitative studies have been conducted to examine the link between gang membership and violent victimization. The current study uses data from a multi-site study of youth to explore potential factors related to this increased risk. These findings suggest that gang members are more likely to experience violent victimization, as well as greater frequency of victimization, than do non-gang members. Furthermore, gang membership remains a significant correlate of the annual prevalence of victimization net other individual, family, peer, school, and situational factors. The relationship, however, is complex and dependent upon the type of victimization examined.

Differential Attrition Rates and Active Parental Consent.

Active parental consent in survey research poses ethical and practical concerns. One common argument against the requirement of active consent procedures is its effect on participation rates. There is additional concern that higher risk groups may be underrepresented in the final sample. Empirical support of differential attrition, however, is lacking. In the current multisite longitudinal study, passive consent procedures were approved for the collection of pretest data. For subsequent years of data collection, active parental consent procedures were required. In this article, we use the pretest data to examine demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral differences between those students for whom active consent was provided and those for whom active consent was either denied or for whom no response was received. The results indicate that active consent procedures produce deleterious effects on participation rates and lead to an underrepresentation of at-risk youth in the sample.

Similarities and Differences in Risk Factors for Violent Offending and Gang Membership

Abstract Prior research has established that there is a cumulative effect of risk factors on both youth violence and gang membership and that risk factors in multiple domains increase the probability of youth violence and gang involvement. In this article we expand upon this risk factor approach to the study of youth violence by addressing two questions concerning youth violence: (1) What are the effects of cumulative risk, including risk in multiple domains, on youth violence and gang membership and to what extent are the patterns similar or different for youth violence and gang membership? (2) To what extent do risk factors exert independent effects when other factors are controlled in multivariate analyses, and are the risk factors for youth violence similar to or different from those for gang membership? We utilise survey data from a sample of 5,395 8th grade students in 11 cities across the United States to examine these issues.

Gang Membership and Adherence to the “Code of the Street”

Gang members have been found to engage in more delinquent behaviors than comparable nongang youth. Few empirical attempts have been made to identify the group processes associated with the gang experience that lead to such noteworthy behavioral outcomes. While not developed to explain gang behavior, Elijah Andersons “code of the street” framework may prove insightful. Utilizing data from a diverse school-based sample of 2,216 youth, we examine the efficacy of street code-related variables to explain gang members’ heightened involvement in violent offending. Utilizing methods based on a potential outcomes framework, results suggest that joining a gang facilitates greater ascription to street code-related attitudes and emotions, and these constructs partially mediate the relationship between gang joining and the increased frequency of violent offending.

Race and Gang Affiliation: An Examination of Multiple Marginality

Criminological research has historically drawn a connection between race/ethnicity and gang membership. The focus on specific racial/ethnic groups and particular gangs in distinct geographical locations within ethnographic research, along with the lack of a comprehensive explanation, however, has limited this research. Thus, the true nature of the relationship between race/ethnicity and gang membership remains unclear. This research expands the contemporary literature regarding race/ethnicity and gang membership by utilizing multisite survey data to examine Vigil’s (1988, 2002) multiple marginality framework of gang involvement for Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics. Results suggest that multiple marginality is a viable explanation for current gang membership. When examining the applicability of this theory for members of various racial/ethnic groups, important differences appear when examining current versus ever gang membership. For current gang membership, significant differences between racial/ethnic groups exist, with ecological/economic stress variables being significant for Whites and social control/street socialization elements representing the important predictors for African Americans and Hispanics. This pattern changes when examining those reporting ever being in a gang. For “ever” gang membership, social control/street socialization elements predict membership for all groups. Policy implications of these results are discussed.

Evaluation and Evolution of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program

The Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program is a gang- and delinquency-prevention program delivered by law enforcement officers within a school setting. Originally designed in 1991 by Phoenix-area law enforcement agencies to address local needs, the program quickly spread across the United States. In this article, we describe the evolution of the program and its responsiveness to two independent national evaluations funded by the U.S. National Institute of Justice. The first evaluation revealed little program effect and contributed to a critical review and substantial revision of the G.R.E.A.T. “core” or middle-school curriculum. Preliminary findings from the ongoing second evaluation give an initial indication of the extent to which these changes have resulted in the achievement of G.R.E.A.T. program goals of helping youths to (a) avoid gang membership, violence, and criminal activity; and (b) develop a positive relationship with law enforcement.

PARENTAL ATTACHMENT, PARENTAL SUPERVISION AND ADOLESCENT DEVIANCE IN INTACT AND NON-INTACT FAMILIES

ABSTRACT Utilizing a multi-site, cross-sectional sample of 8th graders, we examined the relationship between family structure and two forms of self-reported delinquency as mediated by juveniles’ perceptions ofparental attachment, supervision and values socialization. Results indicated that, overall, youth in non-intact households were more likely to be involved in both general and serious adolescent deviance than youth in intact households. However, when measures of family process were incorporated into the analyses, involvement in deviant behaviors was discovered to be primarily due to adolescents’ values socialization, specifically their neutralizations of behavior and perceptions of guilt. Parental monitoring behaviors were also related to lower levels of adolescent deviance, but findings regarding parental attachment were inconsistent across intact and non-intact family structures.

Exploring the Measurement Quality of an Attitudinal Scale of Street Code-Related Violence: Similarities and Differences Across Groups and Contexts

Elijah Anderson’s ‘‘code of the streets’’ has received considerable attention as a promising approach to understanding youths violence. One area which has received scant attention, however, is the measurement quality of the street code concept. Using data collected from more than 3,300 middle school youths residing in seven geographically and demographically diverse U.S. cities between 2007 and 2009, the authors seek to answer the following questions: (a) What are the psychometric properties of the attitudes toward street code-related violence scale (in terms of dimensionality and internal consistency) across demographic subgroups (i.e., race/ethnicity, sex, and age groups) and social contexts (i.e., cities)? and (b) To what extent does the level of acceptance of the attitudes associated with street code-related violence vary across demographic subgroups and social contexts? Results illustrate that the scale performs similarly across groups and contexts, but the actual level of acceptance of street code-related violence varies considerably.

Putting youth violent victimization into context: sex, race/ethnicity, and community differences among a multisite sample of youths

The increased risk of violent victimization for adolescents relative to other age groups has recently become a major public health concern. The current study uses data from a multisite study of eighth grade youths attending public schools in 11 cities to determine the extent and nature of youth general and serious violent victimization among both sexes and five racial/ethnic groups in 11 diverse communities. This study explores differences in sex, race/ethnicity, and community independently and explores interactions between sex and community and race/ethnicity and community. Our findings suggest important differences in victimization prevalence and individual victimization rates by sex and community of residence. Racial differences were found to be closely tied to community. Policy implications resulting from our findings are discussed.

Youth Violence in Context The Roles of Sex, Race, and Community in Offending

Youth violence garners considerable attention in the media as well as in public policy debates. In spite of this interest and attention to youth violence, stereotypes fueled by misperceptions about the epidemiology of youth violence often drive these discussions. Urban minority youth, especially males, are typically presented as the “dark stranger” responsible for much of this violence. Criminal justice and juvenile justice data tend to reinforce this perspective. In this article, the authors call into question the extent to which violent juvenile offending can be characterized as an urban minority male problem. A multisite sample of middle school students was used to examine the distribution of violent offending by sex, race/ethnicity, and community of residence.