Publication year
2016
Citation Title
Associations between school violence, military connection, and gang membership in California secondary schools
Journal Name
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
DOI
10.1037/ort0000181
Summary
Military youth attending public schools often possess many risk factors also associated with gang membership, including home and school upheaval and alienation from peers. Associations between military family characteristics (e.g., deployments, relocations), youth health behaviors, and gang membership were examined. While military connection alone did not predict youth gang membership, frequent moves and family deployments put youth at increased risk for being in a gang.
Key Findings
Having a parent or sibling currently serving in the military did not by itself predict students’ gang membership.
Students who changed schools four or more times in the past five years were 53% more likely to be in a gang than students who had moved three or fewer times.
Students who had experienced a family member being deployed were 44% more likely to be in a gang than students without a family deployment history.
Students who had engaged in a fight or carried a weapon to school in the past year were two times more likely to be in a gang than students who had not.
Implications for Program Leaders
Provide education to military parents on child adjustment, particularly after moving schools
Offer after-school programs for military youth that promote positive school and community involvement and prevent gang membership
Disseminate information regarding youth risk factors (e.g., carrying weapons, frequently changing schools) for violence and gang membership to military families
Implications for Policy Makers
Encourage collaboration between public schools and the Department of Defense (DoD) to identify military youth at increased risk for gang membership
Recommend professional education for public school personnel regarding stressors and risk factors, including family deployment and frequent moves, for military youth
Promote the development of programs to support military youth attending public schools
Methods
Students in southern California public schools who completed the military module of the ongoing statewide California Healthy Kids Survey during 7th, 9th, or 11th grade were recruited.
There was a 97% consent rate, and an 87% survey completion rate among recruited students.
Associations between self-reported demographic variables, military-related characteristics, youth health behaviors, and gang membership were examined.
Participants
The sample included 13,484 students (52% female) from 23 southern California public schools near Navy and Marine bases with high rates (i.e., 10% or more) of military-connected students.
Youth identified as Latino (50%), White (28%), Multiracial (12%), Asian-American (7%), and Black (3%).
Students’ military connections included having a family member who was currently an Active Duty or Reserve Service member (14%) or who had been deployed in the past ten years (27%).
Limitations
Due to the cross-sectional study design, the direction of the effects of military connection, family deployments, frequent moves, and gang membership cannot be determined.
Other variables (e.g., poverty, race, family functioning) may have impacted the results of the associations and were not taken into account in the analyses.
Results from youth in southern California public schools with high rates of military-connected students may not generalize to youth in other schools or geographic locations.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine other variables (e.g., length of family deployment, family functioning, demographics) that may impact youth, especially military youth, and their likelihood of gang membership
Investigate differences in risk and resilience factors and gang membership rates between military youth attending public schools and DoD schools
Explore military youths’ motives for gang membership, such as need for belonging or safety
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Recent studies have found that military-connected students confront many challenges-such as secondary traumatization-that may stem from a parent's deployment and frequent relocations. It is possible that multiple moves and deployments of family service members are associated with military-connected students' gang membership and involvement with school violence behaviors. In this study, a total of 13,484 students completed the core and military modules of the California Healthy Kids Survey. Logistic regressions examined the odds of a student being a member of a gang given their grade, gender, race/ethnicity, school violence behaviors, military-connectedness, changes in schools, and familial deployments. Results indicated that of the nearly 8% of students sampled who reported being in a gang, those with a parent or sibling currently serving in the military reported a higher prevalence rate of gang membership than students with no military connection. Students who reported being in fights or carrying weapons to school were at least twice more likely to be a gang member than students who reported not having been in fights or carrying weapons. Changing schools 4 or more times in a 5-year period and experiencing at least 1 familial deployment were also associated with an increased likelihood of gang membership. The findings of this study offer incentive to further explicate the gang and school violence experiences of military-connected students. This study supports schools in understanding the characteristics of the military-connected students and families they serve so they can implement appropriate interventions to curb gang and school violence behaviors.
Abstract Document
PRTW Document
Attach