NCJ Number
247512
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2014 Pages: 56-87
Date Published
February 2014
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effects of adolescent gang membership on educational attainment over a 12-year period.
Abstract
This study examined the effects of adolescent gang membership on educational attainment over a 12-year period. A broader conceptualization of gang membershipas a snare in the life courseis used to study its noncriminal consequences. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and propensity score matching were used to assess the cumulative and longitudinal effects of gang membership on seven educational outcomes, including educational attainment in years and six educational milestones. After adjusting for nonrandom selection into gangs, youths who joined a gang were compared annually to their matched counterparts from 1998 to 2009. Selection-adjusted estimates revealed disparities between gang and nongang youth in education attainment. Youth who joined gangs were 30 percent less likely to graduate from high school and 58 percent less likely to earn a four-year degree than their matched counterparts. The effects of gang membership on educational attainment were statistically observable within one year of joining, and accumulated in magnitude over time to reach −0.62 years (ES=0.25) by the final point of observation. The snare-like forces linked to the onset of gang membership have consequences that spill into a range of life domains, including education. These findings take on added significance because of a historical context where education has a prominent role in social stratification. Abstract published by arrangement with Sage.