Abstract
Prior research has documented that youth self-identified as gang members comprise a different group than those identified by the Eurogang definition. These two groups of gang-identified youth, however, share similar risk factors and are also more violent than their non-gang counterparts. Other work, which has examined youth that both self-nominate and meet the Eurogang definition, finds that these multi-definitional gang youth score significantly higher on risk factors and offending than those youth who meet only one definition. The first aim of the current study is to expand on these definitional comparisons, as well as further research on gang desistance, by comparing the motivations for leaving the gang across self-nominated gang youth, Eurogang youth, and youth meeting both conceptual definitions. The self-nominated gang desistance literature suggests that, when leaving the gang, youth typically become disillusioned with gang life and begin to drift away from their gang friends. Of particular note is that motivations associated with violence are relatively infrequent. Given the more violent nature of multi-definitional gang youth, however, we may expect that these youth experience motivations related to violent victimization and violence fatigue. This study relies on both prospective quantitative surveys and retrospective qualitative interviews to compare motivations for gang desistance in a multisite sample of self-nominated gang and Eurogang-defined youth. This mixed-methods approach also allows for a comparison in the consistency of prospective and retrospective motivations for leaving the gang, which is the second aim of this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
This may be surprising given that prior research typically finds that violence serves to increase the solidarity and cohesion of the gang (Decker 1996; Hagedorn 1988; Klein 1971; Padilla 1992; Vigil 1988); however, these divergent findings might be due to the origin of the violence. Violence among gang members or occurring within the gang context may be more salient to members, thus facilitating a sense of disillusionment and violence fatigue. Violence that occurs between gangs or between gang members, however, may intensify the bonds of membership (Decker and Van Winkle 1996).
- 2.
Due to an under-representation of African American youth in Chicago schools obtained in the 2006 sampling effort, two additional schools were included in the evaluation, beginning during the 2007–2008 school year (Esbensen et al. 2013).
- 3.
It is important to point out that for the purposes of this sample youth were not included in the pool of Eurogang youth if they self-nominated as a gang member at any wave of the G.R.E.A.T. evaluation.
- 4.
Analysis comparing the full sample of desisters to the final analysis sample revealed no differences in desistance motivations across youth classified as self-nominated or multi-definitional. Youth classified as belonging to a Eurogang in the full sample were significantly older than those included in the analysis sample; however, there were no other demographic differences across the samples within each group.
- 5.
Differences in demographics and motivations were compared across the three conceptual definitions using Fisher’s exact test. This significance test is typically used in place of Χ 2 in the presence of small sample sizes, which can violate the Χ 2 assumption that the expected value in a cell is greater than 5. That said, when examining differences in age via ANOVA analysis we tested for equal variances using both Levene’s test of equal variances and Welch’s robust test. In terms of post hoc analyses, Games–Howell’s test was used as the variances were not assumed to be equal. This is a modified test that allows for unequal variances as well as unequal sample sizes.
- 6.
Importantly, given the difference in recall period associated with the qualitative interviews, we found no differences in the consistency of motivations for leaving the gang between the “recent” and “distant” gang desisters.
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Carson, D.C., Esbensen, FA. (2016). Motivations for Leaving Gangs in the USA: A Qualitative Comparison of Leaving Processes Across Gang Definitions. In: Maxson, C., Esbensen, FA. (eds) Gang Transitions and Transformations in an International Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29602-9_8
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