NCJ Number
147146
Date Published
1971
Length
414 pages
Annotation
Juvenile gang members and nonmembers of gangs were surveyed regarding their childhood exposure to family problems thought to reduce the probability of appropriate sex-role assumption and increase the probability of hypermasculinity and resulting gang involvement.
Abstract
The participants included white and black lower-class gang members, lower-class youths who were not gang members, and middle-class youths. Results supported the hypothesis that gang members of both races would report more exposure to variables promoting primary feminine identification than all nongang youths. However the source of the primary cross-sex identification may differ by race. In particular, the disproportionately high paternal absence and consequent relative lack of male role models reported by black gang respondents was thought to indicate motivational bases for primary cross-sex identification among these youths. In contrast, the fathers of white gang respondents were reported as rather more powerful relative to their wives than fathers in all other groups, but their extreme lack of acceptance of their sons and the severity of their hostility toward the youths suggested barriers to appropriate sex-role assumption among these respondents. Findings suggested that in families where the father's presence is more or less continuous, his power relative to the mother will almost always be sufficient to motivate appropriate sex-role assumption in his son, and it is his nurturance that has the most important influence on the son's early sex-role development. Findings also suggested a possible source of the psychopathology indicated in the literature to be more prevalent among gang members than among non-gang members. Tables, figures, and 79 references (Author abstract modified)