Social Bonds, Context of Reception, and Gang Involvement Among Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Youth

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 27. Immigration and the criminal-legal system

Abstract

This study examines why some adolescents become gang-involved while others in similar environments do not, with particular attention to differences between immigrant and native-born youth. Drawing on Social Bond Theory and Segmented Assimilation Theory, the project develops a conditional model of gang involvement that integrates individual social ties with broader structural contexts. Social bond theory, articulated by Hirschi, posits that strong attachments to family, school, and prosocial peers reduce delinquency by increasing youths’ stakes in conformity. In contrast, segmented assimilation theory, developed by Zhou and others, emphasizes how immigrants’ “contexts of reception”—including discrimination, concentrated disadvantage, and co-ethnic support networks—shape divergent adaptation pathways, some of which may heighten gang risk. Using longitudinal data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) evaluation (2006–2011), which followed more than 3,800 students across 31 schools in seven U.S. cities, the study analyzes two outcomes: gang-favorable attitudes and self-reported gang membership. Multilevel mixed-effects models assess how school commitment, neighborhood attachment, parental attachment, prosocial involvement, and belief in conventional norms predict these outcomes, while testing whether nativity moderates these relationships. Findings show that social bonds strongly reduce pro-gang attitudes, supporting core expectations of social bond theory. However, actual gang membership is more strongly associated with structural neighborhood risks than with school or neighborhood attachment alone. Although nativity interactions are largely non-significant, immigrant youth appear more sensitive to school-level problems, consistent with segmented assimilation’s emphasis on dissonant reception contexts. Overall, the study demonstrates that integrating individual-level bonds with structural assimilation contexts provides a more comprehensive explanation of gang involvement among diverse youth populations.

Author

• Isaac Idahosa Ekhator, University of Iowa