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Abstract
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This study compared gang versus nongang high school students along measures of self-esteem, racial attitudes, and their self-professed role models. A total of 78 Caucasian (65 nongang and 13 gang members) and 77 African-American students (41 nongang and 36 gang members) participated. Results indicated that gang members had significantly lower levels of self-esteem compared to their nongang peers. All students, regardless of ethnicity, manifested negative racial stereotyping toward racial outgroups; gang members were not more racially prejudiced compared to other students. The role model data revealed that overall, gang members could name fewer role models than did their nongang peers. African-American students who were not gang members were much more likely to mention a parent or teacher as a role model. A regression analysis indicated that the absence of parental or teacher roles models was the best predictor of gang membership. These results are conceptualized within the framework provided by social identity theory.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
This aim of article by Wang was to compare nongang and gang high school students, and to examine self-esteem, racial attitudes, and role models.
METHODOLOGY:
A quasi-experimental design was employed for this study. This study was theoretically based on social identity theory. This theory led to the following hypotheses: 1) gang members had lower self-esteem than nongang members, 2) gang members displayed greater ethnocentrism, 3) the number and type of role models differed according to gang membership, and 4) it was possible to assess the degree to which various factors effect the decision to join a gang.
The sample was comprised of 155 11th and 12th grade male students who attended two public high schools in the suburbs of Orlando, Florida. Teachers and counselors at one school identified gang members as those who had been referred to a school program for gang members or those who engaged in interracial conflicts. Again, opinions of teachers and the principal were utilized to obtain a nongang sample from the second school. In all, 78 Caucasian (13 gang members and 65 nongang members) and 77 African-American students (36 gang members and 41 nongang members) participated in the study. Students who were not either Caucasian or African-American were omitted on the basis of the measuring instruments that evaluated only racial attitudes about these two groups. Also, the 6 female gang members were excluded because of their lack of representativeness.
In classes of about 25 students each, questionnaires were administered. Each class was given approximately 50 minutes to complete the following: cover sheet, self-esteem scale, Racial Attitude Adjective Checklist (RAAC) for Caucasians, and RAAC for African-Americans. The cover sheet asked about age, gender, race and three most admired people (role models). The self-esteem scale used 25 statements describing both negative and positive feelings about self-esteem and a 4-point Likert scale. The two RAAC's listed 239 negative and 94 positive adjectives to assess respondents' attitudes toward their own and the other racial group.
The author used descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and multiple regression analyses that treated gang versus nongang as the dependent variable.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The author found modest support for social identity theory. The first hypothesis, that gang members had lower self-esteem, was supported (p<.01). The author was surprised to find that, for nongang members, African-Americans had higher self-esteem scores than Caucasians (p<.01). The second hypothesis, that gang members displayed more racial prejudice than nongang members, was not supported. Neither regressions nor ANOVAs produced any significant findings. The role model hypothesis was somewhat supported. Students were significantly more likely to name role models of their own ethnicity (p<.01). Also, gang members tended to name fewer role models than nongang members (p<.07). The final hypotheses that there are several predictors of gang membership was partially supported. The multiple regression analysis revealed that the absence of either a teacher or a parent role model was the best predictor of gang membership (p<.01). No evidence was found to support self-esteem as a predictor of gang membership.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author recommended that additional research be conducted for gang membership of females and youth of other ethnicities. The author also suggested that future research examine differences between gang members who attended school versus those who dropped out.
EVALUATION:
In general, this study provides some important findings on the causal factors of gang membership. It should be noted that selection bias is an issue: the samples from each school were only described as containing, "comparable numbers of African-American students," and being, "fairly large and representable" (p. 282). This study has a limited degree of generalizability because it lacks random sampling and fails to present statistical comparison of its sample to the national population of 11th and 12th graders. In conclusion, this study offers role models as one clue in understanding why a teenager might join a gang. (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)
KW - Florida
KW - Social Idenity Theory
KW - Grade 11
KW - Grade 12
KW - Senior High School Student
KW - African American Juvenile
KW - African American Perceptions
KW - African American Gang
KW - African American Male
KW - African American Offender
KW - Caucasian Juvenile
KW - Caucasian Perceptions
KW - Caucasian Gang
KW - Caucasian Offender
KW - Caucasian Male
KW - Black-White Comparison
KW - Racial Comparison
KW - Racial Differences
KW - Racial Factors
KW - Male Gang
KW - Male Perceptions
KW - Male Offender
KW - Male Attitudes
KW - Male Self-Esteem
KW - Juvenile Attitudes
KW - Juvenile Gang
KW - Juvenile Self-Esteem
KW - Juvenile Perceptions
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Male
KW - Prejudice
KW - Offender Characteristics
KW - Gang-Nongang Comparison
KW - Racial Attitudes
KW - Offender Self-Esteem
KW - Gang Membership Causes
Language: en |