This booklet provides graphs, tables, and a summary compiled from data collected in schools using the 1996-1997 PRIDE Questionnaire. The data reflect prevalence and patterns of drug and alcohol abuse, violence, gang activity, and suicide. This report is designed for educators to use within their drug abuse and violence awareness and prevention…

Investigated factors associated with gang involvement among rural and urban adolescents using data from a sample of 1,183 Nevada students in grades 7 through 12. There was no significant difference in gang membership or pressure to join gangs between the rural and urban samples, but there were differences on other gang and violence indicators.…

This report represents the findings of a study on violence by youth gangs in 12 major American cities, and deals with the following topics: (1) the rationale and methods for a national survey of youth gangs; (2) the existence and seriousness of the problem of youth gangs in 12 major American cities; (3) the size and scope of the youth gang…

Examined youth gang problem in U.S. Guam. Found that changes in island traditionalism and culture wrought by modern society and modern Western individualism can isolate some youth. Concluded that gang members must be viewed as members of a culture that proposes moral visions and prescribes group behaviors for its membership. (Author/SD)

Compared gang versus nongang high school students along measures of self-esteem, racial attitudes, and self-professed role models. Results from 78 white and 77 black students revealed that gang members had significantly lower levels of self-esteem compared to nongang peers. All students, regardless of ethnicity, manifested negative racial…

A 5-year study investigated the relationship of selected variables to engagement (working, attending school, or both) status of 108 formerly incarcerated youth. Participants whose first formal adjudication occurred after 14 and were not gang-involved were more likely to be engaged, as were those who received mental health services. (Contains…

A teacher researcher studied Hispanic-American seventh graders in an English as a Second Language class who had older siblings or close friends in gangs, conducting interviews with students and their teachers. The research investigated teacher researchers' social responsibility beyond the study. This paper discusses lessons for teacher researchers…

To explore potential bases of positive development among gang youth, attributes of positive individual and social behavior were assessed in individual interviews with 45 African American adolescent male members of inner-city Detroit gangs and 50 African American adolescent males from the same communities but involved in community-based…

This report summarizes students' responses regarding crime at school collected by the National Crime Victimization Survey in a special supplement during the first half of 1989. The data represent an estimated 21.6 million students, ages 12 to 19. The analysis accounts for crime experienced by different groups--males and females; blacks and whites;…

The study examined whether a change in school site affected the school attendance of 13 male Chicano gang members, 13 to 18 years of age, admitted to a community-based delinquency and gang violence prevention project. Since an active Alternative Studies Program, designed for students with special learning problems or for working students, already…

A study of 64 gang-involved youth found that they represent all ethnic and gender groups; experience multiple child and family risk factors; present mental health, substance abuse, and academic problems; and often score within clinical ranges on behavioral and emotional indices. Non-Latina females present more internalizing and externalizing…

To investigate the extent to which street gangs in Los Angeles (California) are comprised of youth or adults, self-report data from 435 gang members are examined. Findings do not generally support the idea of the aging gang member. Gangs consist primarily of adolescents, regardless of racial and socioeconomic differences. (SLD)

Ethnographic data from a black middle-class Chicago neighborhood indicate that dense social networks fostered by residential stability facilitate informal supervision of neighborhood youth and enhance formal crime-prevention activities. Nevertheless, inclusion of gang members and drug dealers in networks of law-abiding kin and neighbors thwarts…

In Nicaragua the rise of urban youth gangs has led the government to adopt a crime-control approach that focuses on containing adolescent violence. Yet efforts to foil youth gangs have been ineffectual, largely because the nature of gang membership is little understood. This article presents the results of a qualitative study of youth gang…

Background: Three different explanations have been given for the observation that adolescent gang members report more delinquent behaviour than their counterparts who do not affiliate with gangs: a) adolescents who commit more crimes join gangs (selection hypothesis); b) gang membership facilitates deviant behaviour (facilitation hypothesis); c)…