Gang membership as a nonshared environmental influence

• In Event: Innovations in Gang Research: New Directions in Studying and Managing Gangs and Gang Members

Abstract

Gang involvement is a well-known and robust predictor of criminal behavior and victimization. While the associations between gang membership and these antisocial outcomes are well established, researchers have been unable to quantify the amount of the gang effect that is attributable to causal influences and how much is attributable to endogenous self-selection. Of course, only an experimental design allows one to make such strong statements. Yet, recent developments in behavioral genetics may offer the opportunity to move closer to experimental results by capitalizing on the naturally occurring experiment of monozygotic (MZ) twinning. The present study will utilize an MZ twin difference score analysis to identify the effect of gang membership on antisocial outcomes among a large sample of American youth.

Author

• J.C. Barnes, University of Cincinnati