scholarly journals Changes in Personal Social Networks across Individuals Leaving Their Street Gang: Just What Are Youth Leaving Behind?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Caterina G. Roman ◽  
Meagan Cahill ◽  
Lauren R. Mayes
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gang Membership ◽  
Street Gang ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
Crime Desistance ◽  
Network Composition ◽  
Desistance From Crime ◽  
Over Time

Despite a small but growing literature on gang disengagement and desistance, little is known about how social networks and changes in networks correspond to self-reported changes in street gang membership over time. The current study describes the personal or “ego” network composition of 228 street gang members in two east coast cities in the United States. The study highlights changes in personal network composition associated with changes in gang membership over two waves of survey data, describing notable differences between those who reported leaving their gang and fully disengaging from their gang associates, and those who reported leaving but still participate and hang out with their gang friends. Results show some positive changes (i.e., reductions) in criminal behavior and many changes toward an increase in prosocial relationships for those who fully disengaged from their street gang, versus limited changes in both criminal behavior and network composition over time for those who reported leaving but remained engaged with their gang. The findings suggest that gang intervention programs that increase access to or support building prosocial relationships may assist the gang disengagement process and ultimately buoy desistance from crime. The study also has implications for theorizing about gang and crime desistance, in that the role of social ties should take a more central role.

scholarly journals Showing the Essential Science Structure of a Scientific Domain and its Evolution

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 288-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Vargas-Quesada ◽  
Félix de Moya-Anegón ◽  
Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez ◽  
Antonio González-Molina
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pathfinder Networks ◽  
Scientific Domain ◽  
Peripheral Areas ◽  
Over Time

Category cocitation and its representation through social networks is proving to be a very adequate technique for the visualization and analysis of great scientific domains. Its combination with pathfinder networks using pruning values r = ∞ and q=n–1 makes manifest the essence of research in the domain represented, or what we might call the ‘most salient structure’. The possible loss of structural information, caused by aggressive pruning in peripheral areas of the networks, is overcome by creating heliocentric maps for each category. The depictions obtained with this procedure become tools of great usefulness in view of their capacity to reveal the evolution of a given scientific domain over time, to show differences and similarities between different domains, and to suggest possible new lines for development. This article presents the scientogram of the United States for the year 2002, identifying its essential structure. We also show the scientograms of China for the years 1990 and 2002, in order to study its particular national evolution. Finally, we try to detect patterns and tendencies in the three scientograms that would allow one to predict or flag the evolution of a scientific domain.

scholarly journals The Role of Full and Half Day Preschool Attendance in the Formation of Children’s Social Networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Watling Neal ◽  
Brian Brutzman ◽  
C. Emily Durbin
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Network Formation ◽  
Social Play ◽  
The United States ◽  
Preschool Attendance ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Full Day ◽  
Over Time

In the United States, the duration of children’s preschool attendance differs, with some children attending full-day preschool and some children attending half-day preschool. This difference provides uneven daily exposure to peers that may have implications for childhood social outcomes, including the formation of social networks over time. In this study, we examined the role of full and half day preschool attendance in children’s social network formation. Specifically, using stochastic actor-oriented modeling, we analyzed longitudinal social network data from an intensive observational study of 25 3-year-old and 28 4-year-old students’ social play relationships in two preschool classrooms over the course of an entire school year. Full-day preschool attendance had a negative effect on the formation of children’s social play relationships over time for 3-year-olds but not 4-year-olds. Specifically, 3-year-old children who attended full-day preschool were less likely than their half-day peers to be selected as playmates. We discuss potential developmental and contextual factors that might explain this finding as well as future directions for research.

The Shape of Identity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolette D. Manglos-Weber
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
The United States ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Personal Trust ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Over Time

Migrations abroad for a better life take place within the context of complex lifelong trajectories. While Ghanaians coming to the United States are usually motivated by specific aspirations, frequently having to do with education or professional opportunities, their aspirations often change over time and in response to opportunities and setbacks. They are constantly revising their aspirations while also negotiating their identities along dimensions of race, ethnicity, and nationality. Furthermore, this process is deeply embedded in the relationships they hold on to from home and the new ones they form abroad. In that sense, revisions of aspirations and negotiations of identity are embedded in social networks. This chapter steps slightly away from the topic of religion to the more general issues of aspiration and identity, in order to support the ultimate argument that religious-based relationships of personal trust influence such revisions and negotiations.

Prevalence of Gangs in the U.S.: Measurement Approaches and Findings From Police Data

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlen Egley, Jr.
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Gang Membership ◽  
Street Gangs ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Street Gang ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Gang Activity ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
The Individual

Street gang activity has garnered academic and public attention for many decades. Compared with other youth groups, street gangs contribute disproportionately to crime and violence, though the vast majority of crime and violence in the United States is unrelated to gang activity. A distinctive aspect in the study of gangs is the multiple dimensions in which gangs are situated. Depending on the research interest, gang activity may be construed as an independent variable (as a cause) or a dependent variable (as an effect). Moreover, gang activity simultaneously represents multiple levels of analysis: the individual level (gang member), the group level (gang), and the macro level (neighborhoods and broader geographical places in which gangs form and transform). These multiple dimensions present a wide variety of research streams in which to study gangs. Where and why gang activity emerges, when and why individuals join and leave gangs, the wide-ranging diversity in gang structure and organization are but a few of the many areas gang scholars have focused on in order to describe and explain gangs and gang members. Some research areas, such as the association between gang membership and criminal offending and the risk factors for gang joining, have been researched quite extensively. Other areas, such as the nature and extent of gang migration outside larger cities and desistance processes from the gang, have not received or have only recently begun to receive intensive and consistent scholarly attention. Definitional matters are also paramount and inextricably linked to understanding gang activity. How should we define “street gangs,” how should “gang membership” be defined and determined, when and how should a crime be designated as “gang related”? These definitional issues have sparked considerable and sometimes heated debates, and consensus remains elusive. It is important to be mindful of these various dimensions, streams, and issues as we continue our efforts to describe and document street gangs and enhance our understanding of gang processes. Successful strategies for the response to and reduction of street gang activity are contingent on them.

scholarly journals Homeostasis Revisited: Patterns of Stability and Rebalancing in Older Adults’ Social Lives

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Cornwell ◽  
Alyssa Goldman ◽  
Edward O Laumann
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Objectives To examine patterns of change in later-life social connectedness: (a) the extent and direction of changes in different aspects of social connectedness, including size, density, and composition of social networks, network turnover, and three types of community involvement and (b) the sequential nature of these changes over time. Method We use three waves of nationally representative data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, collected from 2005/2006 to 2015/2016. Respondents were between the ages of 67 and 95 at follow-up. Types of changes in their social connectedness between the two successive 5-year periods are compared to discern over-time change patterns. Results Analyses reveal stability or growth in the sizes of most older adults’ social networks, their access to non-kin ties, network expansiveness, as well as several forms of community involvement. Most older adults experienced turnover within their networks, but losses and additions usually offset each other, resulting in generally stable network size and structural features. Moreover, when older adults reported decreases (increases) in a given form of social connectedness during the first half of the study period, these changes were typically followed by countervailing increases (decreases) over the subsequent 5-year period. This general pattern holds for both network and community connectedness. Discussion There is an overwhelming tendency toward either maintaining or rebalancing previous structures and levels of both personal network connectedness and community involvement. This results in overall homeostasis. We close by discussing the need for a unifying theoretical framework that can explain these patterns.

scholarly journals Transitions in Social Network Types over Time among Older Adults

Gerontology ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Pildoo Sung ◽  
Rahul Malhotra ◽  
Grand H.-L. Cheng ◽  
Angelique Wei-Ming Chan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Transition Analysis ◽  
Network Composition ◽  
Over Time

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> Network typology studies have identified heterogeneous types of older adults’ social networks. However, little is known about stability and change in social network types over time. We investigate transitions in social network types among older adults, aged 60 years and older, and factors associated with such transitions. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We used data on 1,305 older adults, participating in 2 waves of a national, longitudinal survey, conducted in 2016–2017 and 2019, in Singapore. Latent transition analysis identified the distinct types of social networks and their transition patterns between the waves. Multinomial logistic regression examined the association of baseline and change in physical, functional, and mental health and baseline sociodemographic characteristics with network transitions into more diverse or less diverse types. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We found 5 social network types at both waves, representing the most to the least diverse types – diverse, unmarried and diverse, extended family, immediate family, and restricted. Between waves, about 57% of respondents retained their social network type, whereas 24% transitioned into more diverse types and 19% into less diverse types. Those who were older and less educated and those with worsening functional and mental health were more likely to transition into less diverse types versus remaining in the same type. <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> The findings capture the dynamics in social network composition among older adults in the contemporary aging society. We highlight sociodemographic and health disparities contributing to later life social network diversity.

An Analysis of Fraudulent Qui Tam Actions Over Time in the United States

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen A. Fitzner ◽  
Charlie Bennett ◽  
June McKoy ◽  
Cara Tigue
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Over Time

Forecasting Interconnections in International Housing Markets: Evidence from the Dynamic Model Averaging Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-103
Author(s):  
Hardik A. Marfatia
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Model Averaging ◽  
Housing Markets ◽  
The United States ◽  
Forecasting Model ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Dynamic Model Averaging ◽  
Over Time

In this paper, I undertake a novel approach to uncover the forecasting interconnections in the international housing markets. Using a dynamic model averaging framework that allows both the coefficients and the entire forecasting model to dynamically change over time, I uncover the intertwined forecasting relationships in 23 leading international housing markets. The evidence suggests significant forecasting interconnections in these markets. However, no country holds a constant forecasting advantage, including the United States and the United Kingdom, although the U.S. housing market's predictive power has increased over time. Evidence also suggests that allowing the forecasting model to change is more important than allowing the coefficients to change over time.

The New Economic Populism and the Future of Inequality in the United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Franko ◽  
Christopher Witko
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Income Disparities ◽  
The Face ◽  
Over Time

The authors conclude the book by recapping their arguments and empirical results, and discussing the possibilities for the “new economic populism” to promote egalitarian economic outcomes in the face of continuing gridlock and the dominance of Washington, DC’s policymaking institutions by business and the wealthy, and a conservative Republican Party. Many states are actually addressing inequality now, and these policies are working. Admittedly, many states also continue to embrace the policies that have contributed to growing inequality, such as tax cuts for the wealthy or attempting to weaken labor unions. But as the public grows more concerned about inequality, the authors argue, policies that help to address these income disparities will become more popular, and policies that exacerbate inequality will become less so. Over time, if history is a guide, more egalitarian policies will spread across the states, and ultimately to the federal government.

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