2004/02/01 by RACHEL A. GORDON, Rachel A. Gordon, BENJAMIN B. LAHEY +8 · 258 citations
Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Computer science #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance #Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis #Criminology #Developmental psychology #Human factors and ergonomics #Join (topology) #Joins #Juvenile delinquency #Longitudinal study #Medical emergency #Medicine #Poison control #Property crime #Psychology #Social psychology #Socialization #Violent crime
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2004.tb00513.x
published in Criminology 42(1), 55-88 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2004/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
We examine whether gang membership is associated with higher levels of delinquency because boys predisposed to delinquent activity are more likely than others to join. We use 10 years of longitudinal data from 858 participants of the Pittsburgh Youth Study to identify periods before, during and after gang membership. We build on prior research by controlling for ages and calendar time, by better accounting for gang memberships that occurred before the study began, and by using fixed effects statistical models. We find more evidence than has been found in prior studies that boys who join gangs are more delinquent before entering the gang than those who do not join. Even with such selective differences, however, we replicate research showing that drug selling, drug use, violent behaviors and vandalism of property increase significantly when a youth joins a gang. The delinquency of peers appears to be one mechanism of socialization. These findings are clearest in youth self‐reports, but are also evident in reports from parents and teachers on boys' behavior and delinquency. Once we adjust for time trends, we find that the increase in delinquency is temporary, that delinquency falls to pre‐gang levels when boys leave gangs.