Running Head: ADOLESCENTS AND GANGS
Term Paper: Adolescent Involvement with Gangs
Kimberley Panaligan
March 13, 2018
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ADOLESCENTS AND GANGS
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Gangs have been known to be a group of people involved with violent and dangerous
actions and activities. Gangs are not only made up of adults, but of young adolescents as well. A
news article, titled “Braden Moreton jailed for beating disabled teen” (2018), is about a 19-year
old male leader of a drugs gang who harmed and robbed a man whom he thought owed him debt.
Moreton was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and robbery and was then put into jail
with others involved with him in transporting drugs (“Braden Moreton jailed for beating disabled
teen,” 2018). Adolescents, like Moreton, are surrounded by many influences that can socialize
them into choosing to live different types of lifestyles as they grow older. They are especially in
a time of their lives when they are determining which path they will take (Krohn, Ward,
Thornberry, Lizotte, & Chu, 2011a). One of these lifestyles options include becoming a part of a
gang—even at a young age. According to Krohn, Schmidt, Lizotte and Baldwin (2011b),
becoming a part of a gang is a way for people to develop their identity. It does not only take one
deciding factor, but many different reasons and factors (Dmitrieva, Gibson, Steinberg, Piquero,
& Fagan, 2014), that lead to an adolescent joining in a gang (O’Brien, Daffern, Chu, & Thomas,
2013). This paper analyzes how adolescents specifically become socialized to join a gang. In
examining the ways that adolescents decide to become a gang member, this paper argues that
they make the decision to join a gang due to the influence of their family situations, their school
environment, and their surrounding peers.
Three agencies of socialization that possibly lead to the affiliation of adolescents into
gangs are family, school, and peer groups (including the neighbourhoods they live in). It is
claimed by Van Ngo, Calhoun, Worthington, Pyrch and Este (2017) that the gang members
involved in their study experienced the weakening of their relationships and interactions with
their schools, families, and surrounding peers. The accretion of stressful events in relation to
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these three agencies in the life of potential gang members are also factors that determine whether
they join a gang or not (Hennigan, Kolnick, Vindel, & Maxson, 2015). Moreover, each agency
socializes adolescents to possibly join a gang in several different ways. In fact, family, school,
and peer groups overlap with one another in their impact to adolescent gang members.
Families have a big effect on potential adolescent gang members since families are the
primary caregiving groups for the youth. First of all, the adolescent’s relationship with his/her
parents is very significant. Nelson, Patience, and MacDonald (1999) have claimed that students
who were satisfied with the relationships they had with their parents were not so inclined to take
part in deviant behaviour. On the other hand, youth who had unstable relationships with their
family members were to presumably associate with peers who were more of a negative influence
on their behaviours (Dupéré, Lacourse, Willms, Vitaro, & Tremblay, 2007). Secondly,
ineffective parenting plays an important role in affecting the adolescents and their involvement
with gangs (Blackburn, Mullings, Marquart, & Trulson, 2007). Parents with poor mental health
(Van Ngo et al., 2017) and involvement with substance use can cause parents to make poor
choices regarding the way they take care of and discipline their children, and so those who are
adolescents can specifically be affected by becoming more antisocial and/or deviant (Dishion,
Nelson, & Yasui, 2005). Additionally, adolescents who witness their parents fighting verbally or
physically become exposed to violence, and thus more trauma regarding family is experienced
(Van Ngo et al., 2017). Last of all, the involvement of family members in gangs also serves to be
a strong influence in encouraging adolescents to become a part of gangs as well (Krohn et al.,
2011b) because they become introduced to it through their primary caregiving group (Van Ngo
et al., 2017). As mentioned by Van Ngo et al. (2017), adolescent gang members are negatively
influenced by their family members since they are surrounded by violence in their homes, and
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therefore experience verbal and physical abuse themselves. Some other adolescents look up to
their siblings who are involved in delinquent behaviours and desire to follow after them (Van
Ngo et al., 2017). The aspiration to also gain respect and feel important from their gang-involved
family members also encourage youth to become gang members as well (O’ Brien et al., 2013).
There are also adolescents that are expected to be a part of the gang by their own family
members too (Hennigan et al., 2015).
Schools are also a significant agency of socialization regarding youth involvement with
gangs. The influence of schools involves the role of the school system, the staff and the students
within the schools. School systems that will not provide for the needs of the adolescents will
interest the youth to join a gang because they are not properly being cared for (Krohn et al.,
2011a). Some people that are responsible for providing these needs are the adults of the school:
teachers, the principal, counselors, and the rest of the educational staff. Having a relationship
with the adults at school can be a protective factor for adolescents in deciding whether to become
involved with gangs or not (Ryan, Miller-Loessi, & Nieri, 2007). These relationships can
positively influence the youth in displaying appropriate behaviours, doing well academically in
school, and encouraging students to make wise choice regarding their future, which can help
youth avoid delinquent behaviours (Ryan et al., 2007). Supportive connections with the staff of
schools can also lead to creating a healthy and safe school environment for the students (Ryan et
al., 2007). According to Ryan et al. (2007), the staff of schools, along with parents, are
responsible for being a “first line of defense” against problems that adolescent youth can and will
encounter. Therefore, if the relationships between the staff and students are poor, then the
chances of the students joining into gangs would be highly probable because the students would
be less likely to allow school staff to have authority over them. This situation would then lead the
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students into displaying irresponsible behaviours. Moreover, students who do not academically
do well in school are prone to developing deviant behaviour by associating with other students
who are not excelling in their academic studies either (Dishion et al., 2005). These situations in
which students become influenced by their peers could then become “breeding grounds” that
would lead adolescent students to becoming involved with gangs (Dishion et al., 2005).
Making the decision to join a gang is highly associated with peer groups (Hennigan et al.,
2015). The more time that youth spend with gang-involved peers, the more influenced they will
be to become a part of the gang (Dishion et al., 2005). Adolescents who choose to befriend those
who are already in gangs are likely to join the gang because it would be their way of hanging out
with each other (Krohn et al., 2011a), even if it would be a negative influence upon their lives
(Hennigan et al., 2015). Young people would also be encouraged to join gangs to get to know
other people, to make more friends, and to take part in the activities that they do (O’Brien et al.,
2013). As O’Brien et al. (2013) mentioned in their study, youth gangs would be more of a
representation of a friendship group rather than a highly organized group. In other words,
becoming a gang member isn’t just about gaining high status and getting involved with risky
activities, but it is also about the friendship that they gain within being in the group as well. Peer
pressure is another factor that leads adolescents into joining gangs. The pressure of peers is
significantly present during the junior and senior high school years (Van Ngo et al., 2017).
Students who are specifically struggling at home; experiencing difficulties academically in
school; are encountering bullying, racism, and social exclusion (Van Ngo et al., 2017); and have
low self-esteem and self-worth are likely to fall into peer pressure in order to gain the approval
of others (Dmitrieva et al., 2014).
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Additionally, living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood with gang involvement present
can also lead youth to take part in delinquent behaviour (Dishion et al., 2005; Dupéré et al.,
2007). Street gangs are specifically found in neighbourhoods that are located in areas of poverty,
violence and disorder (Hennigan et al., 2015). These neighbourhoods often seen to be as an
unsafe environment (Blackburn et al., 2007), and so adolescents in these neighbourhoods would
presumably be influenced to join gangs as a way to protect themselves and their neighbourhood
(O’Brien et al., 2013).
In examining the ways that adolescents decide to become a gang member, a conclusion
can be made that family situations, the school environment and surrounding peers are three
agencies of socialization that influence adolescents to become involved with gangs. Influencing
factors within family situations include the parent-child relationship, ineffective parenting and
family involvement with gangs. For the school environment, factors that influence the likelihood
of adolescents in joining gangs were the system of the school, the staff-student relationship, and
academic achievement. The factors that impact the youth in becoming a gang member involve
the influence of friends, peer pressure, and the neighbourhoods that they live in. All in all,
family, school and peer groups significantly affect adolescents in socializing them into gangs.
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References
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