Childhood Risk Factors for Gang Involvement among Indigenous Adolescents: A Cumulative Risk Approach

• In Event: Explanations and Correlates of the Gang Experience

Abstract

Relatively little research has examined gang involvement among Indigenous (e.g., American Indian/Alaska Native and Canadian First Nations) adolescents, and no previous study has been able to establish proper temporal ordering between risk factors and gang involvement among this population. The current study addresses this gap in the gang literature by examining prospective risk factors for gang involvement among a sample of 646 Indigenous adolescents residing in the upper-Midwest and Canada. Twenty-four risk factors measured at Wave 1 of the study (ages 10-12) were used to predict gang involvement at subsequent waves. Risk was examined across ecological domains (e.g., community, family, school, peer, individual, and early delinquency), and placed within an Indigenous developmental and multiple marginality framework. In total, 11.8% of the sample reported any gang involvement from ages 11-18. The results indicate that risk is mainly clustered within the peer, individual, and early delinquency domains. Moreover, the results show a clear cumulative risk pattern across risk factors and across ecological domains. Prevention and intervention strategies are discussed within the cultural and developmental contexts in which they are embedded.

Author

• Dane Hautala, University of Nebraska - Lincoln