Also in this Issue:
 Why
Boys Join Gangs
Lahey, B.B., Gordon, R.A.,
Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Farrington, D.P. (1999).
Boys who join gangs: A prospective study of predictors of first gang entry.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 261-276.
The
growth of the gang phenomena has become an increasing concern. It is estimated
that 650,000 youths in the US are members of gangs. The violence associated
with gang membership not only harms the victims but it also exposes gang
members to risk of injury, incarceration, and death. If we can learn more
about what influences young boys to join gangs then we can decrease both
juvenile crime rates and risk of harm to gang members.
There
are two major models that try to explain why boys enter gangs. One model
suggests that boys who already engage in antisocial behaviour enter gangs
to join with people similar to themselves. The other model suggests that
boys join gangs for such reasons as self-esteem, power, and protection.
According to this model, it is through membership in the gang that these
youths are encouraged to engage in antisocial behaviour. Both theories
have some merit in explaining why youth join gangs and how further antisocial
behaviour may be escalated through the gang membership.
The
present article is based on data collected from the longitudinal Pittsburgh
Youth Study (PYS). In this study,
the researchers try to replicate research findings that future gang entry
can be predicted by both the youth's antisocial behaviour before gang
entry and family and neighbourhood characteristics. Participants in the
study were 375 boys (204 African Americans and 143 White males) from the
PYS. The boys were in the 7th grade of an urban public school system at
the start of the 6-year longitudinal study. 
Results:
- Ninety-five boys reported
entering a gang either before or after the study began.
- Sixty-two of the boys reported
entry into serious gangs (gangs who engaged in fighting, drug
sales, stealing, or homicide).
- By age 19, 8% of White boys
and 34% of African
American boys had entered a gang.
- Ninety-five boys reported
entering a gang either before or after the study began.
- Sixty-two of the boys reported
entry into serious gangs (gangs who engaged in fighting, drug
sales, stealing, or homicide).
- By age 19, 8% of White boys
and 34% of African
American boys had entered a gang.
To
examine potential predictors of gang entry, information on 183 African
American boys whose gang entry occurred during the data collection was
compiled. [Since only 2 white boys had entered a serious gang, the study
is limited to predicting gang entry of African American boys.]
- Of the 183 African American
boys, 25 reported entering a serious gang.
- Factors such as prior
behaviour (conduct) problems, association with deviant peers, low family
income, and low levels of parental supervision were found to be predictors
of gang entry. However, these finding were dependent on the age of the
boy:
- The association between
youths' initial behaviour problems and entry into a serious gang
was weakened as age increased.
- Friendships with aggressive
peers were related to serious gang entry only during early adolescence.
- Higher family income
seemed to protect youth from gang entry in late adolescence, but
it was associated with higher risk of serious gang entry
during early adolescence.
- Less parental supervision
increased the risk of serious gang entry during early adolescence,
but was associated with lower risk in late adolescence.
The authors
interpretations of the above findings are as follows:
- In early adolescence, friendships
with delinquent peers may lead to gang membership, but in general, gang
entry may reflect a tendency for antisocial boys to associate with one
another.
- The authors could not explain
the relationship between family income and age due to limited data.
- In early adolescence, boys
with conduct problems who receive low parental supervision may be the
first to join gangs, whereas boys who join gangs in later adolescence
may have been deterred in earlier adolescence due to high parental supervision.
Home
Based Treatment for Youths in Psychiatric Crisis
Henggeler,
S.W., Rowland, M.D., Randall, J. Ward, D.M., Pickrel, S.G., Cunningham,
P.B., Miller, S.L., Edwards, J., Zealberg, J.J., Hand, L.D., & Santos,
A.B. (1999). Home-based multisystemic therapy as an alternative to the
hospitalization of youths in psychiatric crisis: Clinical outcomes. Journal
of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 1331-1339.
It
has been recognized that emotional and behavioural problems in children
and adolescents should be treated in the home and should include the family
and others who are involved with the youth. Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
is a treatment approach which assumes that improvements in youth functioning
are best achieved by favourable changes in the family, peer, and school
contexts.
Past
research has shown that MST is an effective approach for antisocial youth
and violent juvenile offenders. This study was designed to determine
whether MST can be used with youths presenting psychiatric emergencies
as an alternative to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization.
One
hundred thirteen adolescents who were referred for psychiatric hospitalization
were randomly assigned to MST or psychiatric hospitalization. The majority
of these youths suffered from disruptive behaviour disorders (including
oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder). There were also youths with mood disorder, anxiety
disorder, substance abuse disorder, and psychosis. The average duration
of psychiatric hospitalization was 3.8 days while youths in MST received
care for an average of 4 months.
Results:
- MST was found to be at
least as effective as hospitalization for youths with internalizing
symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression) and more effective for
youths with externalizing symptoms (e.g., aggression and noncompliance.)
- The authors point out that
the complexity and severity of problems presented by the youths and
their families in psychiatric crisis were significantly greater than
expected. Therefore, a substantial percentage of youths in MST were
hospitalized for a brief period.
- Families of youths in MST
showed improved cohesion and structure after the treatment whereas the
youths who were hospitalized did not. Also, youths in MST had greater
school attendance than youths who were hospitalized.
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Institute
for the study of Antisocial behaviour in Youth (lAY) 
