Pre-Teen Gang Involvement Is Associated With Teenage Gambling Behavior: Exploratory Findings From a Longitudinal Cohort Study of Pacific Youth in New Zealand

Pacific youth in New Zealand have a disproportionately high risk for gambling and gang involvement compared with New Zealand European youth. Limited evidence indicates that youth gang involvement is associated with problem gambling; no research shows if it is associated with gambling. We conducted exploratory secondary analyses of data from 1063 Pacific youth and their mothers using data from 2 time points (age 9 and 14 years) from a longitudinal cohort study. Gang involvement at age 9 years was significantly associated with gambling at age 14 years, with adjusted odds of 2.25 (95% CI = 1.16-4.37). Of confounders, having a mother with a partner and Cook Islands ethnicity appeared protective against gambling at age 14 years. Despite some study limitations, as youth gambling can lead to subsequent adult problem gambling, our findings highlight the importance of understanding why Pacific youth join gangs, to inform public health policies to reduce the potential for future development of harmful behaviors.

Reflections on the utility of school-based surveys for gang research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the utility of school-based research for studying gangs and gang members. Police–researcher collaborations have led to considerable advancements in the understanding of gang involvement and its consequences. But the current social environment should encourage scholars to take stock of alternative methodologies to examine gang-related questions. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors reflect on the advantages of school-based research designs for studying gang affiliated youth, primarily contrasting the data derived from school-based designs to official data from police. Findings xSpecifically, the authors discuss the key advantages of school-based survey research, identify concerns that can arise from such designs and offer recommendations as to how to mitigate such concerns. Originality/value This paper provides a discussion on the utility of gang-related research and guidance on addressing potential limitations.

PREDICTORS OF ADOLESCENT INVOLVEMENT IN CLIQUES AND GANGS

Objectives. The gangs came to the attention of the authorities because of the criminal nature of some of them. To understand which are the appropriate measures to prevent and reduce gang delinquency, this paper aimed at identifying the predictors of adolescents' belonging to such groups. Material and methods. Relevant articles published between 2010 and 2020, were searched in three access platforms to the scientific literature. The papers based on the quantitative analysis of the data, which evaluated the predictors of the involvement of adolescents aged 14-21 in gangs, were preserved. Results. Resulting in 33 significant articles, with samples between 75-26232 participants, 11 studies had a longitudinal design, the rest being cross-sectional. Most studies were conducted in the USA, and the rest in European, American, African, and Asian countries. Three categories of predictors were distinguished: familial factors (e.g. deficient parenting, domestic violence), personal factors (e.g. trauma history, low level of self-control), social and economic factors (e.g. criminogenic neighborhood, material and financial instability). The most common predictor was the criminogenic neighborhood, identified by 16 studies. There were also highlighted gender differences regarding gang membership, adolescent boys being more likely to be gang members. Conclusions. This systematic review highlighted that the main factors that can compete to adolescent gang involvement are: criminogenic social environment, low level of self-control, dysfunctional family-educational environment, and low socioeconomic level. As research has shown that many of these can be risk factors for violence, it is necessary to develop coping strategies and heal traumas to prevent the formation and maintenance of the antisocial identity of adolescent gangs. Keywords: gang, clique, adolescents, violence.

Sibling Transmission of Gang Involvement

Objectives: The processes driving gang entry and disengagement are central to classic and contemporary criminological research on gang involvement. Yet, the role of delinquent peer friendship networks in contouring gang membership has driven much of criminological research, with little empirical research devoted to understanding sibling influences on the gang career. Method: The study uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to examine the transmission of gang membership among similar-aged siblings. These data offer the opportunity to use siblings’ self-report of gang involvement as a determinant of focal youths’ self-report of gang involvement while treating gang entry, persistence, and exit (and reentry) as unique transitions with potentially asymmetric determinants. Results: Results from the event history models indicate that gang involved siblings increase the hazard of entry and re-entry into the gang but have little influence on exit decisions. Sibling configurations with respect to sex and age-order further conditions these relations, with brothers and older siblings most influential. Conclusion: Ties to siblings serve as a salient and intimate type of social tie with siblings serving multiplex roles in each other’s lives. Findings lend additional insight on crime concentration in family networks and advance our understanding of continuity and change in gang involvement