Dual Trajectories of Gang Affiliation and Delinquent Peer Association During Adolescence: An Examination of Long-Term Offending Outcomes

• NCJ Number: 249991
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 45 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2016 Pages: 746-762
• Author(s): B. D. Dong; M. D. Krohn
• Date Published: April 2016
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-JN-CX-0007
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In order to examine whether and how youth gang affiliation contributes to a spectrum of criminal acts above and beyond the influence of associating with delinquent peers, this study examined the causes and consequences of delinquency and drug use in an urban sample of adolescents, using a relatively new modeling techniquedual trajectory analysisto illustrate the dynamic relationship between these two measures among 666 male youth.

Abstract

The study used 14 waves of data from the Rochester Youth Developmental Study, an ongoing longitudinal panel study aimed at understanding the causes and consequences of delinquency and drug use in an urban sample of adolescents. The results suggest that the two measures, while overlapping, may constitute distinct concepts that operate in different ways. The most convincing evidence of gang effects, above and beyond the influence of perceived peer delinquency, is for violent behavior and by extension police arrest. These findings contribute to developmental research and provide information that informs future gang control efforts. (Publisher abstract modified)