Citation

Lemus EL, Johnson FA. J. Gang Res. 2008; 16(1): 13-32.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, National Gang Crime Research Center)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examined Latino gang members’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. The major findings in this study reveal that gang members had higher levels of anger expression, both inwardly and outwardly, than their nongang member counterparts. The implications of these findings are vital and indicative of combined risks such as health problems, suicide attempts, disrupted human relations, and possible chronic clinical depression that are associated with having elevated levels of anger expression inwardly and outwardly. At the therapeutic level, these findings reemphasize the need for therapists to adopt appropriate approaches to treating the anger related issues present in Latino gang-involved youth. The study’s results failed to reveal significant differences as proposed by previous research on bullying, self-esteem, and ethnic identity. Although the initial comparison of bullying behavior exposed significant differences between gang and nongang members, this discrepancy did not remain significant after controlling for church attendance as a covariate. While not certain, it is plausible that church attendance mitigated the inter-group differences. Consequently, this finding revealed an evident inconsistency with the vast amount of research on bullying. This study compared Latino gang members to nongang members on psychological constructs of anger, bullying, self-esteem, and ethnic identity. Based on previous research, gang members were hypothesized to have higher levels of ethnic identity, outwardly expressed anger, and bullying behavior; non gang members were hypothesized to have higher levels of self-esteem, and anger expressed inwardly. Data were collected from 90 youth, of which 46 were nongang members while 44 were gang members; the youth were of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 14 to 18 years old, and recruited from the metropolitan Washington, DC area.