NCJ Number
178379
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: Spring 1999 Pages: 49-60
Date Published
1999
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Data from a national survey on the health risk behavior of confined juveniles focuses on gang members.
Abstract
The survey, which was conducted in the summer of 1991, used an instrument with 45 forced-choice questions. The sample consisted of 44 juvenile facilities with a potential sample frame of more than 2,500 respondents. A total of 1,801 completed surveys were returned in time for processing, representing a slightly higher than 70 percent return rate. To ensure greater reliability in the data collection in the five States selected for the study, a written guide to administration and a short video training tape were mailed to each institution. The sample exhibited high incidence rates for various public health risk behaviors. More than four-fifths had used tobacco or marijuana. Almost three-fourths had been in fights, including those fights that involved the use of deadly weapons. Other examples of at-risk behavior in the juvenile correctional population included high levels of drug abuse for addictive drugs and previous manifestations of sexually transmitted diseases. Self-reported gang membership among confined juveniles was much higher (46.1 percent) than would have been expected from the prior literature. Approximately one in five juveniles who were gang members or who had been gang members reported acquiring a sexually transmitted disease, compared to 14.1 percent of those who had never been affiliated with a gang. Similarly, fighting with potentially deadly weapons and self- reported prior gang membership were related to lifetime alcohol consumption history. Consistent with the literature on suicide, which links the phenomenon to depression brought about by alcohol and drug abuse, confined juveniles, especially those affiliated with gangs, were at substantially higher risk based on their reports of suicide ideation, suicide attempts, and attempts requiring medical intervention. 4 tables, 2 figures, and a 51- item selected bibliography