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Early Precursors of Gang Membership: a Study of Seattle Youth

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Early Precursors of Gang Membership: a Study of Seattle Youth U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention December 2001 Early Precursors of A Message From OJJDP Gang Membership: A What leads a particular youth to join a gang? Identifying early pre- Study of Seattle Youth cursors of youth gang membership can facilitate the development of more effective interventions to pre- vent youth from becoming involved Karl G. Hill, Christina Lui, and J. David Hawkins in gangs. The proliferation of youth gangs since 1980 is especially valuable for understanding The Seattle Social Development has fueled the public’s fear and magnified the predictors of gang membership. As a Project is a longitudinal study of possible misconceptions about youth gangs. longitudinal project that has tracked a youth living in high-crime neighbor- To address the mounting concern about sample of more than 800 youth from 1985 hoods. The study is designed to youth gangs, the Office of Juvenile Justice to the present, SSDP affords the opportu- enhance our understanding of the and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) nity to trace the effect of factors present predictors of gang participation. in youth’s lives at ages 10 to 12 on the Youth Gang Series delves into many of the This Bulletin draws on data from key issues related to youth gangs. The likelihood of their joining and remaining the Seattle study to assess how risk series considers issues such as gang migra- in gangs between the ages of 13 and 18. factors present in the lives of 10- to tion, gang growth, female involvement with Although numerous other studies have 12-year-old youth affect the proba- gangs, homicide, drugs and violence, and focused on gang membership (see Howell, bility of their later participation in the needs of communities and youth who 1998, for a review), their cross-sectional gangs. The Bulletin also explores live in the presence of youth gangs. design makes it difficult to disentangle implications of this risk factor analy- predictors of gang membership from the sis for the design of successful pre- Gang members engage in more delinquent effects. Only two other projects—the vention strategies. behavior than their peers who are not in Rochester Youth Development Study gangs. The Seattle Social Development (Thornberry, 1998; Thornberry and Burch, The Seattle study confirms that youth who participate in gangs are Project (SSDP) study shows that com- 1997; Browning, Thornberry, and Porter, more likely than their non-gang- pared with youth who are not gang mem- 1999) and the Denver Youth Survey (Es- bers, those who are gang members more involved peers to engage in assault, bensen and Huizinga, 1993; Esbensen, robbery, breaking and entering, and often commit assault, robbery, breaking Huizinga, and Weiher, 1993)—have report- and entering, and felony theft; indulge in felony theft. Other studies also indi- ed prospective data on gang membership. cate that gang members are more binge drinking; use and sell drugs; and are (These projects are funded by OJJDP as arrested (see figure 1). Other studies also likely than juveniles who are not in- part of its Program of Research on the volved in gangs to commit violent show that gang members are more likely Causes and Correlates of Delinquency.) crimes and property offenses. to commit violent crimes and property crimes and use drugs (Spergel, 1995; This Bulletin presents SSDP data on youth Thus, the early precursors to gang Thornberry, 1998). They are more than who join gangs. It summarizes findings on membership identified by the Seattle twice as likely to carry guns and three gender, race/ethnicity, age at joining, and study offer the potential of improv- times as likely to sell drugs (Bjerregaard duration of membership; analyzes the ing efforts not only to prevent youth and Lizotte, 1995). relationship between risk factors present gang membership but also to com- at ages 10 to 12 and the likelihood of join- bat juvenile crime. Why do some youth join gangs while oth- ing a gang between ages 13 and 18; and ers do not? Understanding what predicts discusses prevention-related implications gang membership is vital for preventing of the risk factor analysis. youth from joining gangs. The SSDP study Demographics of Gang Figure 1: Prevalence of Delinquency Among Gang and Nongang Youth Membership Ages 13 to 18, SSDP Sample Of the 808 SSDP participants, 124 (15.3 percent) reported that they joined a gang 70 64 at some point between the ages of 13 and 60 18. Of the 124 participants who joined 54 gangs, the majority (90) were male. Where- 51 51 50 as 8.6 percent of all female participants 41 43 joined gangs, 21.8 percent of all male 40 participants joined (figure 2). 30 26 Gang members came from diverse 22 24 racial/ethnic backgrounds—European 20 18 17 14 American, African American, Asian Amer- Percentage of Youth Youth of Percentage ican, Native American, and Hispanic and 10 7 9 9 2 other ethnicities. However, the rate for 0 joining a gang was highest among African Assault Robbery Breaking Felony Binge Marijuana Drug Arrest American SSDP participants. As figure 2 & Entering Theft Drinking Use Selling shows, 26.2 percent of all African Amer- ican participants reported joining a gang, Nongang Gang compared with 10.2 percent of all Euro- pean American participants, 12.4 percent of all Asian American participants, and Note: Youth were interviewed at ages 13 to 16 and 18. In each interview, youth reported activi- 19.7 percent of other ethnicities. ties for the past month (except for drug selling and arrest, which were reported for the past year). For gang members, prevalence reflects only the year(s) of membership. Youth in the Seattle sample joined gangs throughout adolescence. Figure 3 shows the cumulative percentage of youth at each age who reported ever joining a SSDP Sample and collected from the participants’ parents gang. Youth were at risk of joining every Methodology or guardians, teachers, and school, po- year, but the risk rose most sharply at age lice, and court records. Collection of 15—the age at which most students make SSDP has tracked a sample of 808 persons data on gang membership began when the transition to high school. since 1985, when the participants were the participants were 13 years old. fifth-grade students at 18 Seattle, WA, pub- lic schools that serve high-crime neigh- borhoods. Approximately half of the par- ticipants are female (396, or 49 percent of Figure 2: Percentage of Youth Ages 13 to 18 Who Joined a Gang, the sample). The sample is also ethnically SSDP Sample diverse: 372 (46 percent) of the partici- pants identified themselves as European American, 195 (24 percent) as African Female 8.6 American, 170 (21 percent) as Asian Amer- By Gender ican, 45 (6 percent) as Native American, Male 21.8 and 26 (3 percent) as other ethnicities. Roughly half of the participants are from European low-income families. Parents of 46 per- 10.2 cent of the participants reported a family American income of less than $20,000 a year. Fifty- African 26.2 two percent of the participants took part American in the National School Lunch/School By Race/Ethnicity Asian Breakfast Program at some point in the 12.4 fifth, sixth, or seventh grade. American Data on the SSDP participants were col- Other 19.7 lected annually from age 10 through age Ethnicity 16 and then were collected again at age 18. The participants responded to a wide Total Sample 15.3 range of questions on family, community, school, peers, gangs, alcohol and drug 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 use, drug selling, violence, weapon use, Percentage of Youth and victimization. Data were also 2 Although low bonding with parents and Figure 3: Cumulative Percentage of Youth Reporting Ever Joining a low religious service attendance were Gang, Ages 13 to 16 and 18, SSDP Sample examined as possible predictors of gang membership, neither was found to predict membership. 20 15.3 12.6 Risk Factors and Duration of 10.6 Gang Membership 10 6.2 These findings suggest that youth join of Youth of Youth 2.4 gangs as a result of antisocial influences in Percentage neighborhoods, antisocial tendencies in 0 13 14 15 16 17 18 families and peers, failure to perform well (no data) in school, and early initiation of individual problem behaviors. All of these factors Age distinguish youth who join gangs from those who do not. What distinguishes Note: Youth were at risk of joining every year, but the risk rose most sharply at age 15, at the youth who remain in gangs for more than transition to high school. 1 year from those who remain for only 1 year or less? The Seattle study indicates that youth who were the most behavioral- Duration of Gang Huizinga, and Weiher, 1993). Of those who ly and socially maladjusted in childhood joined a gang, 67 percent belonged for 1 were most likely to be gang members for Membership year or less and 33 percent belonged for several years. In particular, youth who Of the SSDP participants who became more than 1 year. In the Rochester Youth exhibited early signs of violent and exter- gang members, most belonged to the gang Development Study sample, 25 percent nalizing behavior (e.g., aggression, oppo- for a short period of time (figure 4). Of joined a gang. Of those who joined a gang, sitional behavior, and inattentive and the 124 who joined gangs, 69 percent be- 53 percent belonged for 1 year or less and hyperactive behaviors) and those who as- longed for 1 year or less and 31 percent 47 percent belonged for more than 1 year sociated with antisocial peers were more belonged for longer.
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