Youth Gang Involvement: A Case Study

Youth gang involvement has as a major concern in many countries. There are different social factors that indulge youth to join a gang. A gang is a distinctive group of members associated with adolescents or youth who due to the negative effect of various social factors. This paper argues the three social elements that leads youth to join a gang are parental, neighbourhood, and school influence. A gang includes the undisciplined youth gang or street youth gang whose only identity is to involve in an unlawful action.

However, the first social factor that leads the youth to join a gang is the parental influence. Parental influence includes lack of control or supervision that leads youth to join a gang (Gilman et al. 2014: 205). Gilman et al. (2014) argue that the youth join a gang when family does not act as a primary socialize agent to monitor their children. Howell and Egley (2005) argue that the poor parental supervision predicts a gang membership in early adolescence. Also, the poor social control leads youth to join a gang more frequently than the children with parental control (Bell 2009:367). Bell (2009) argues that the youth with strong social bonding with families are less likely to join a gang than others.

Family structure also includes the family members who are already involved in the gang group. This creates a delinquent

environment at home that enforces youth to join a gang, especially males (Alleyne and Wood 2014:550). Moreover, males join a gang more frequently if their parents, siblings, and friends are the members of the gang (Bell 2009:365). Bell (2009) also argues that most of the female gang shows that their family members and friends are already in a gang.
Moreover, the second social factor that indulges youth to join a gang is the school influence. Gilman et al. (2014) argue that the antisocial school structure force youth to join a gang. The school with poor academic quality, educational frustration, and weak attachment to school leads youth to join a gang (Gilman et al. 2014:205). Also, Yoder, Whitbeck and Hoyt (2003) argue that the weak social ties and lack of interest with the social institutions develop a delinquent behaviour among youth which enforce them to join a gang.
As per, Yoder, Whitbeck and Hoyt (2003) argue the school suspension, lack of attendance, and expulsion from school leads youth to get more involve into a gang. According to Howell and Egley (2005) youth involve more into a gang where there is a weak social conventional bond with teachers or school faculty members. Gilman et al. (2014) also argue that insecurity and drop out from the school develop the delinquent behaviour that leads the youth to join a gang.
Furthermore, the third social factor regarding youth gang involvement is the neighbourhood disadvantage.

Gilman et al. (2014) argue that the neighbourhood availability of drug influences the youth to get involved into a gang which results in a high crime rate. Also, neighbourhood drug uses like marijuana and alcohol influences youth to get involve more into a gang (Howell and Egley 2005:339). This develops the violence and abusive neighborhood environment that enforce youth to join a gang. Alleyne and Wood (2014) also argue that the existing delinquent gang member in the neighborhood tends to enforce youth to get involve in a

gang.
Additionally, high risk neighbourhood also influences the youth to get involved in a gang in order to survive and security (Howell and Egley 2005:339). It is common for the youth to turn into a gang in the high risk neighborhood as they seek emotional and economic support from other delinquent groups (Yoder, Whitbeck and Hoyt 2003:364). Yoder, Whitbeck and Hoyt (2003) argue that the neighbourhood disadvantage indulge youth to develop a gang in order to survive from other peer violence.
In the conclusion, it shows that lack of supervision and weak social bonding between parent-child relationship results to get involve in a gang. Also, poor academic quality and suspension from school indulge the youth to join a gang. Finally, neighbourhood disadvantage like high crime rate and drug use leads the youth to get involve into a gang.