INVOLVEMENT OF AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH IN GANGS
Virtually nothing is known about the involvement of American Indian youth in gangs. However, recent evidence suggests that a gang culture and gang membership have diffused to many Native American Indian communities. The purpose of this article is to examine the results of a self-report study among American Indian youth from several western states. The results indicate that about 5 percent of males, but less than 1 percent of females reported actual gang membership. In addition, about 10 percent of male and female respondents reported hanging around with gangs. When compared to non-gang Indian youth, level of drug involvement and involvement in delinquent activities washigherforin-gang youth and those who hang around with gangs. Youth who reported hanging around with gangs also reported higher drug use and involvement in delinquent activities than non-gang youth, but lower than those who reported actual membership in gangs. Conditions of poverty, lack of economic opportunities, discrimination, and the erosion of cultural identity provide the structural conditions for the attractiveness of gangs to Indian youth. The actual diffusion of gang culture is dependent on contact between Indian youth and non-Indian youth with knowledge about gangs. The article considers several important areas for research on gang emergence in Native American Indian communities.
Prospective Childhood Risk Factors for Gang Involvement Among North American Indigenous Adolescents
The purpose of the study was to examine prospective childhood risk factors for gang involvement across the course of adolescence among a large 8-year longitudinal sample of 646 Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) youth residing on reservation/reserve land in the Midwest of the United States and Canada. Risk factors at the first wave of the study (ages 10–12) were used to predict gang involvement (i.e., gang membership and initiation) in subsequent waves (ages 11–18). A total of 6.7% of the participants reported gang membership and 9.1% reported gang initiation during the study. Risk factors were distributed across developmental domains (e.g., family, school, peer, and individual) with those in the early delinquency domain having the strongest and most consistent effects. Moreover, the results indicate that the cumulative number of risk factors in childhood increases the probability of subsequent gang involvement. Culturally relevant implications and prevention/intervention strategies are discussed.
Spin label motion in fatty acids.
Spin labels dissolved in highly purified fatty acid systems exhibit nearly identical tumbling rates in liquid and solid phases. Even though the spin labels do not have the same molecular geometry as the lipid matrix the melting point of the matrix can be inferred by measurements of the temperature dependency of molecular motion.