Exploring intergenerational continuity in gang membership
Megan Bears Augustyn, Jeffrey T. Ward and Marvin D. Krohn
ABSTRACT
Little is known regarding intergenerational continuity in gang membership. Qualitative literature is suggestive of intergenerational parallelism yet no known research examines the causal mechanisms associated with this cycle, if it even exists. Prospective, longitudinal data from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS) and the Rochester Intergenerational Study (RIGS) assess intergenerational continuity in gang membership among 371 parent-child dyads in a series of logistic regressions accounting for moderating influences of parent sex, child sex, parentāchild sex combinations, and level of contact. Path analyses reported herein explore whether parenting behaviors mediate the relationship between parent and child gang membership among fathers and mothers, respectively. Three key findings emerge. First, intergenerational continuity in gang membership exists between mothers and daughters and, conditional on contact, between fathers and sons. Second, maltreatment mediates some of this relationship among fatherāson dyads. Third, no pathways to daughter gang membership were identified among mothers. In sum, this study provides evidence of intergenerational continuity in gang membership and further highlights the importance of parent sex, child sex, and level of contact in intergenerational research. Future research should further explore the causal pathways between parent and child gang membership.
Little is known about intergenerational continuity in gang membership, including whether or not the cycle of gang membership even exists (Dong, Gibson, and Krohn 2015). By in large, qualitative research suggests that intergenerational parallelism in gang membership exists, but these studies are limited to locales with longstanding gang problems resulting from migration/immigration (e.g., Los Angeles and Chicago) and utilize respondent reports of past generation participation (Moore et al. 1978; Horowitz 1983; Vigil 1988). Unfortunately, reliance upon this type of research as evidence for a cycle of gang membership is potentially problematic from validity and generalizeability standpoints.
Recognizing the limitations in extant literature, this research assesses intergenerational continuity in gang membership using data from a jurisdiction with an emergent gang problem at the time of measurement for parental gang membership (i.e., 30 years ago). We believe the focus on this jurisdiction is advantageous from a generalizeability standpoint for two reasons. First, the type of gang classification (i.e., emergent problem) in this city is similar to the majority of locales with gang problems in the United States (Howell, Egley, and Gleason 2002; Howell 2015). Second, gang membership in this location taps into participation in criminal organizations that formed on the street and operate in neighborhoods without known leadership beyond oneās community, and it is these types of gangs that pose the most significant threat to communities (National Gang Intelligence Center 2015). As a result, this research speaks to the cycle of gang membership in a broader perspective (i.e., not limited to cities with culturally entrenched gangs). We also determine whether or not the cycle of gang membership exists in accordance with methodological criteria necessary to establish intergenerational continuity (Ertem, Leventhal, and Dobbs 2000; Thornberry, Knight, and Lovegrove 2012 ). Specifically, prospective, longitudinal data from two generations are used to assess self-reported gang membership in the focal generation (children) and parent generation. Moreover, the data cover overlapping periods of the life course when gang membership is prominent (ages 13ā17) in order to more definitively assess continuity in gang participation. Finally, we draw upon extant literature regarding intergenerational continuity, in general, and assess continuity across parent sex, child sex, parent and child sex combinations, and level of contact in order to speak to the scope of intergenerational continuity in gang membership.
The question of whether or not intergenerational continuity in gang membership exists and the scope of that continuity are important because, if this cycle does exist, the results have significant implications for targeted prevention strategies among the children of former gang members. However, equally important is the identification of the mechanisms that account for intergenerational continuity and lead to intergenerational transmission of behavior. This information is particularly useful, as it can provide targeted goals for prevention programs aiming to reduce gang participation. Therefore, this research also takes advantage of the richness of the Rochester Youth Development Study and the Rochester Intergenerational Study data and explores potential indirect mechanisms that may link parental gang membership to subsequent participation in gangs by oneās child.
As a starting point, we briefly review what is known about intergenerational continuity in gang membership. Given the limited information, we then draw upon interactional theory which would suggest the cycle of gang membership likely exists. In particular, we adopt a life course perspective and highlight the consequences of gang membership that are likely to link parental gang membership to child gang membership. We then focus on parenting behaviors as an intervening mechanism that may perpetuate the cycle of gang membership given the importance of the family domain to the notion of linked lives and its prominence in developmental theories of gang behavior (Thornberry, Freeman-Gallant, et al. 2003; Howell and Egley 2005).
Intergenerational gang membership
Intergenerational continuity of maladaptive behaviors refers to the basic idea that children will end up like their parents in one or more problematic ways. Thornberry and colleagues (2003) distinguish intergenerational continuity from i...
