NCJ Number
133997
Journal
Educational Leadership Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Dated: (September 1991) Pages: 11-13
Date Published
1991
Length
3 pages
Annotation
By bringing the school into the community and vice versa, youth can have a positive alternative to membership in violent gangs to provide the security they lack at home.
Abstract
A report by the National Center for Health Statistics indicates that emotional and behavioral problems are two to three times higher among children in single-parent homes or in families with one step-parent. This suggests that these parents may be absent both physically and emotionally from their children's lives. Absent a family at home, children will often seek to have their emotional needs met in a "family" of their peers. Such "families" often take the form of gangs which reflect the psychological needs of their members engendered by the absence of parental guidance and love. Gang members seek distinguishing social status by displaying gang affiliation through the clothes they wear. Rival gangs challenge this status and sense of worth so they are targeted for violence. Schools can mount programs both in the school and the community that bring youth together in groups that are emotionally protective and that structure positive achievements whereby youth may gain status and a sense of worth.