Citation

Gooden AS, McMahon SD, Li Y. Violence Vict. 2019; 34(4): 717-730.

Affiliation

DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Springer Publishing)

DOI

10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-17-00133

PMID

31416975

Abstract

An array of individual and ecological factors promotes and detracts from gang involvement. Using a transactional-ecological framework, we test a theoretical model in which ecological and individual factors influence gang-related attitudes and affiliations. African American adolescents (N = 174), in 5th-8th grades, from two schools in a disadvantaged community, participated. Path analysis demonstrated the proposed model produced good fit with the data. Significant pathways suggest poverty is associated with less parental support, exposure to violence is associated with more gang-related attitudes and affiliations, and religiosity is associated with fewer gang-related attitudes and affiliations. These findings illustrate the importance of models including ecological and individual factors related to gang involvement and suggest ways to reduce societal problems associated with gangs.

© Copyright 2019 Springer Publishing Company, LLC.

Language: en

Keywords

exposure to violence; gangs; parental support; poverty; religiosity