|
Abstract
|
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this research conducted by Friedman et al. was to generate a profile of youth gang members in Philadelphia.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a quasi-experimental, cross-sectional research design in this study. Self-administered questionnaires were given to a sample 536 boys between the ages of 15 and 18 who resided in or near the poorer, inner-city areas of Philadelphia. The sample was drawn from three sources: correctional facilities, a community-based job-training program, and a local, inner-city public high school.
The questionnaire used in this study was designed to measure several factors related to the dependent variable, gang membership. Independent variables were measured using 77 different indicators including legal police and court record offenses, self-reported antisocial and delinquent behavior, sociological and demographic variables, family structure and history, qualitative and dynamic family measures, scholastic and intellectual measures, vocational history and aspirations, examiner ratings of subject's task behavior, psychological and personality measures, and health habits. The findings section of this paper indicated that only 12 of these measures were deemed important in the final analysis. Specifically, these measures were: (1) The Total Self-Report Violence measure which consisted of 11 items to measure the respondent's impulsive and premeditated violent behaviors; (2) The Advantages of Street Gang Membership measure which asked for respondent's reactions to 18 possible advantages of gang membership, such as having friends, getting to know girls, or securing one's turf; (3) The Parental Defiance Measure which assessed the amount of open rebellion and physical or verbal attacks made by the respondent against his parents; (4) The Record of Nonviolent Offenses as documented in official police and court records; (5) The level of Alcohol Abuse which was assessed using a questionnaire about the frequency of alcohol use; (6) The measure of Serious Truancy which tallied the number of school years in which the respondent had missed more than a total of two months of school; (7) The Delinquent Self-Image measure which was comprised of only one item: whether or not the respondent felt that others perceived him to be delinquent; (8) The Problem-Solving Task Orientation measure which assessed whether or not the respondent cooperated, understood instructions, and paid attention to a given task; (9) Frequency of Drunkenness which was measured according to self-reports of being drunk (never, once in a while, often, very often, almost always, and always); (10) The Mother Importance measure which was assessed by checking if the boy listed his mother as being one of the three most important people in his life, and if so, what ranking she received; (11) Attitudes Toward Drug Use which were measured with questions that asked whether or not the boy condoned drug use for people who knew how to use drugs; (12) and finally, Occupational Level of Expected Future Job, which was measured by asking the respondent what job he expected to have in ten years, and then locating this job on the Hollingshead Index of Social Position.
Data were analyzed using multiple regression. The age and race of the subject, as well as their score on a test of social desirability, were controlled for in the analysis.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The researchers found that the strongest predictor of gang membership was the Total Self-Report Violence measure, which explained 22% of the variance in the dependent variable, gang membership. The second strongest predictor was the Advantages of Street Gang Membership measure, which accounted for 6% of the variance in the dependent variable.
When these variables were removed from the regression analysis, the authors found several other variables to have strong explanatory power. In particular, the Parental Defiance measure was a strong predictor of gang membership, explaining 14.2% of the variance. Also important in predicting gang membership was the measure of Nonviolent Offenses committed by the youth, which accounted for 5.4% of the variance in the dependent variable. The extent of Alcohol Abuse was also found to be a strong predictor (4.3%), as was the amount of Serious Truancy (3.2%), the Delinquent Self-Image of the respondent (2.2%), the Problem-Solving Task Orientation (1.8%), the Frequency of Drunkenness (.9%), the rating of importance of the individual's mother to him (.8%), the Attitudes Toward Drug Use (.7%), and Occupational Level of Future Expected Job (.5%).
The authors concluded that the single most important predictor of gang membership was a "high proclivity for violence" (p. 599), as gang members were more likely to report violent behavior than nongang members. Gang members could also be distinguished from nongang members in their positive attitudes toward gang membership, their involvement with the police for violent and nonviolent offenses (including truancy), their more frequent use of drugs and alcohol, and their reports of being labeled delinquent by adults in their communities. The authors also concluded that family members in general, and mothers in particular, played a less influential role in the lives of gang members. Finally, it was noted that gang members had less realistic expectations for their futures than nongang members, although they perceived themselves as having fewer opportunities for success through legitimate channels.
The authors noted that the measures which distinguished gang members from nongang members the most were enumerative, not evaluative. It was also found that these measures dealt directly with the behavior of the subject, and not with the behavior of persons around him.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors suggested that future research focus on discerning the types of measures that are likely to evoke defensive response patterns from subjects.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Pennsylvania
Juvenile Offender
Juvenile Gang
Gang Membership Causes
African American Male
African American Offender
African American Juvenile
African American Gang
African American Violence
Caucasian Gang
Caucasian Juvenile
Caucasian Male
Caucasian Offender
Caucasian Violence
Juvenile Violence
Offender Characteristics
Male Violence
Male Offender
Self Report Studies
Urban Youth
Urban Gang
Violence Causes
Low-Income Community
Socioeconomic Status
Language: en |