TY - JOUR
T1 - Examining social-ecological correlates of youth gang entry among serious juvenile offenders
T2 - A survival analysis
AU - Merrin, Gabriel J.
AU - Davis, Jordan P.
AU - Ingram, Katherine M.
AU - Espelage, Dorothy L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Decades of research have categorized risk and protective factors for youth gang involvement in social contexts that include individual, family, peer, school, and community factors. However, most studies are cross-sectional and only examine 1 or 2 social-ecological contexts. This study, which used a time-to-event model with time-variant and time-invariant predictors, adds to this literature by using longitudinal social-ecological factors to examine increases in the hazard of gang entry among serious juvenile offenders followed for 7 years during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Lower socioeconomic status (SES), higher rates of exposure to violence, self-reported offending, and time spent in jail were associated with higher hazards rates of gang entry. Temperance (suppression of aggression and impulse control) was associated with decreases in the hazard of gang entry. Among family characteristics, higher parental hostility and having a father who had been arrested were associated with increases in the hazard of gang entry. Resistance to peer influence was a protective factor for gang entry. In addition, individuals who reported associating with delinquent peers or who had a higher proportion of friends who had been arrested had significant increases in the hazard for gang entry. School orientation was a significant protective factor, and neighborhood disorganization was associated with increases in the hazard for gang entry. Strategies for early intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.
AB - Decades of research have categorized risk and protective factors for youth gang involvement in social contexts that include individual, family, peer, school, and community factors. However, most studies are cross-sectional and only examine 1 or 2 social-ecological contexts. This study, which used a time-to-event model with time-variant and time-invariant predictors, adds to this literature by using longitudinal social-ecological factors to examine increases in the hazard of gang entry among serious juvenile offenders followed for 7 years during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Lower socioeconomic status (SES), higher rates of exposure to violence, self-reported offending, and time spent in jail were associated with higher hazards rates of gang entry. Temperance (suppression of aggression and impulse control) was associated with decreases in the hazard of gang entry. Among family characteristics, higher parental hostility and having a father who had been arrested were associated with increases in the hazard of gang entry. Resistance to peer influence was a protective factor for gang entry. In addition, individuals who reported associating with delinquent peers or who had a higher proportion of friends who had been arrested had significant increases in the hazard for gang entry. School orientation was a significant protective factor, and neighborhood disorganization was associated with increases in the hazard for gang entry. Strategies for early intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.
KW - Juvenile offenders
KW - Social-ecological model
KW - Time-to-event model
KW - Youth gangs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086862268&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/ort0000491
DO - 10.1037/ort0000491
M3 - Article
C2 - 32567882
AN - SCOPUS:85086862268
VL - 90
SP - 623
EP - 632
JO - American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
JF - American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
SN - 0002-9432
IS - 5
ER -