Gang Membership and Pathways to Maladaptive Parenting

• NCJ Number: 248854
• Journal: Journal of Research on Adolesence Volume: 24 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2014 Pages: 252-267
• Author(s): Megan B. Augustyn; Terence P. Thornberry; Marvin D. Krohn
• Date Published: May 2014
• Length: 16 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2006-JW-BX-0074
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, this work investigates the impact of gang membership in adolescence (ages 12-18) on a particularly problematic style of parenting, child maltreatment.

Abstract

A limited amount of research examines the short-term consequences of gang membership. Rarer, though, is the examination of more distal consequences of gang membership. This is unfortunate because it understates the true detrimental effect of gang membership across the life course, as well as the effects it may have on children of former gang members. Using discrete time survival analysis, the current study found that gang membership increases the likelihood of child maltreatment and this relationship is mediated by the more proximal outcomes of gang membership during adolescence, precocious transitions to adulthood. (Publisher abstract modified)