Research Interests:
Youth gang involvement is a serious public health challenge as adolescents involved in gangs are more likely than others to engage in violence and aggression. To better understand gang involvement, we examined the role of protective... more
Youth gang involvement is a serious public health challenge as adolescents involved in gangs are more likely than others to engage
in violence and aggression. To better understand gang involvement, we examined the role of protective (empathy and parental
support) and risk (peer deviance and lack of safety at school) factors, as well as their interactions, in predicting adolescent gang
affiliation. The study involved a sample of 26,232 students (53.4% females; mean age¼14.62, SD¼1.69) participating in the
California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), a survey investigating a wide range of youth health and risk behaviors administered in
all California schools every 2 years. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), findings indicated that high levels of empathy and
parental support were associated with a lower likelihood of affiliating with a gang. Associating with deviant peers and perceiving
the school as unsafe were positively correlated with gang membership. At the school level, lack of safety and type of school (special
education, vocational, or alternative school vs. comprehensive schools) were associated with greater probability of gang
membership. Empathy mitigated the association between deviant peers and gang membership.
in violence and aggression. To better understand gang involvement, we examined the role of protective (empathy and parental
support) and risk (peer deviance and lack of safety at school) factors, as well as their interactions, in predicting adolescent gang
affiliation. The study involved a sample of 26,232 students (53.4% females; mean age¼14.62, SD¼1.69) participating in the
California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), a survey investigating a wide range of youth health and risk behaviors administered in
all California schools every 2 years. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), findings indicated that high levels of empathy and
parental support were associated with a lower likelihood of affiliating with a gang. Associating with deviant peers and perceiving
the school as unsafe were positively correlated with gang membership. At the school level, lack of safety and type of school (special
education, vocational, or alternative school vs. comprehensive schools) were associated with greater probability of gang
membership. Empathy mitigated the association between deviant peers and gang membership.