ABSTRACT

Efforts to better understand violence have often compared gang members to non-gang members, finding, expectedly, that gang members engage in more violent behaviors. Often overlooked, however, is the variation of violence that exists among gang members. This variation may be tied to one’s reasons for joining a gang in the first place. Members join gangs for different reasons, and these reasons may lead to varying criminogenic outcomes. Reasons youth join gangs have previously been categorized into push and pull factors. The current study builds on this classification by adopting self-determination theory, grouping reasons into intrinsic, extrinsic, and mixed motivations. Using a school-based longitudinal sample of adolescents, the current study explores the relationship between motivation behind joining a gang and subsequent violent offending. Results reveal that street gang members who joined gangs for mixed motivations reported more violent offending than those who joined gangs for extrinsic motivation only and those who joined for intrinsic motivation contemporaneously. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed in terms of motivation and peer influence.

摘要

为更好地理解暴力行为，经常将帮派成员与非帮派成员进行比较，发现帮派成员的暴力行为更为常见。然而，经常被忽视的是帮派成员之间存在的暴力变化。这种变化可能首先与一个人加入帮派的原因有​​关。成员出于不同的原因加入帮派，这些原因可能导致不同的犯罪结果。青年加入帮派的原因以前被分为推动因素和拉动因素。目前的研究通过采用自我决定理论，将原因分为内在、外在和混合动机，建立在这一分类之上。目前的研究使用基于学校的青少年纵向样本，探讨了加入帮派的动机与随后的暴力犯罪之间的关系。结果显示，出于混合动机加入帮派的街头帮派成员比仅出于外在动机加入帮派的人和同时出于内在动机加入帮派的人报告了更多的暴力犯罪行为。在动机和同伴影响方面讨论了理论和政策影响。