A Comparative Study of Youth Gang Affiliation Across the World

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

Research that looks at gang affiliation from an international perspective has started to garner attention but is still relatively rare. This study looks to examine the relationship between gang affiliation, substance abuse and gender across several world regions. The study was conducted across 30 countries (N=68,507). Participants were school-aged kids from grades 7-9 and were split 49% males and 51% females. All 30 countries were grouped into one of six different regions: North America (NA), Latin America/Caribbean (LAC), Northern Europe (NE), Western Europe (WE), Eastern Europe (EE) and Mediterranean (MED). For the purpose of this study, gang affiliation was operationalized using the Eurogang Definition (Klein, 2009) as a guideline. Gender was significantly associated with gang affiliation in all the regions except NA and all six regions showed a strong association between substance use and gang affiliation. A one way ANOVA showed significant differences between regions on levels of substance abuse (F(5, 57,089) = 309.49, p < .01) and gang affiliation (F(5, 49,700) = 159.81, p < .01). Tukey post hoc analyses were conducted to probe pair wise differences between regions. One recommendation for future research is to conduct international gang research in a more exploratory manner.

Authors

• Jose Sanchez, California State University, Los Angeles

• Carly Dierkhising, California State University, Los Angeles