Variation in risk and protective factors among boy and girl gang involved youth: a direct comparison
| Date | 21 January 2025 |
| Pages | 99-113 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-10-2024-0065 |
| Published date | 21 January 2025 |
| Author | Citlaly Palau,Daniel Scott |
Variation in risk and protective factors
among boy and girl gang involved
youth: a direct comparison
Citlaly Palau and Daniel Scott
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to directly compare risk and protective factors of male and female gang-
involvedyouth.
Design/methodology/approach –This study uses the2022 Arizona Youth Survey data. Gang-involved
boys and girls are comparedthrough multivariate logistic regressionanalyses to examine the relationship
betweenrisk and protective factors and youthgang membership.
Findings –Multivariate analyses reveal significant differences in risk and protective factors between
gang-involvedboys and girls in connection with family conflict.
Practical implications –There is a need forsemi-specialized prevention and interventionprogramming
for male and female gangyouth. Gang programs should emphasize addressing issues with family and
home life more for girls than for boys. School-based gang programs need to similarly emphasize
educational commitmentand positive peer influencefor both gang-involved boys and girls. Improving
positive neighborhood attachment through community programmingwill be beneficial for reducing the
likelihoodof gang involvement for both girls and boys.
Originality/value –There is a need to improve comprehensionof the similarities and differences among
male and female gang youth. Fewstudies directly compare the two groups, and by focusing on risk/
protective factors, the results can help to provide direct applications to existing intervention and
preventionprogramming.
Keywords Youth gangs, Youth violence, Gangs, Gang girls, Risk and protective factors
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Scholarship on youth gangs has extensively studied various aspects of risk and protective
factors associated with youth ganginvolvement. Findings suggest that gang membership is
the result of an intersection between individual, social and environmental factors that
increase the likelihood of youth becoming involved in gangs, such as poor family structure,
low socioeconomic neighborhoods, peers favoring deviance, druguse, delinquency or
antisocial behaviors (Alleyne and Wood, 2010;Esbensen et al., 1999;Glesmann et al.,
2009;Wolff et al.,2020). Most of these studies have primarily focused on risk factors and
used men or male-centered youth samples (Auyong et al., 2018;Gover et al.,2009), with
more recent research also emphasizing general youth gang involvement (Bell, 2009;Panfil
and Peterson, 2015;Wolff et al., 2020). Despite the numerous efforts to study all aspects of
youth characteristics in relation to gang involvement, includingrisks and protective factors,
there are still gaps in the literature. For example, the study of female youth gang
involvement continues to be an area of need, as female gangs did not receive any serious
scholarly attention until the late 1970s (Hughes et al.,2019). This is not to say that female
gang members are understudied, butthat most research on gangs employ male-centered
Citlaly Palau and Daniel
Scott are both based at the
Department of Social
Sciences, College of Arts
and Sciences, Texas A&M
International University,
Laredo, Texas, USA.
Received 10 October 2024
Revised 20 December 2024
Accepted 21 December 2024
Disclaimer: The data was
provided by the Arizona
Criminal Justice Commission.
The findings for this study are
the results of the authors’ work,
and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the Arizona
Criminal Justice Commission.
DOI 10.1108/JCRPP-10-2024-0065 VOL. 11 NO. 12025, pp. 99-113, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2056-3841 jJOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH, POLICY AND PRACTICE jPAGE 99
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