Pride and prejudice in high school gang members

Adolescence, Summer, 1994 by Alvin Y. Wang

TABLE 3. Mean number of role models named by students as a function of ethnicity (both student and model) and profession. The maximum number of models that could be identified was three.

(Note: C = Caucasian, AA = African-American).

                     Total No.   Caucasian   Sports     Parents/
Subject:             Models      Models      Figures    Teachers

C (nongang)            2.3          1.9        .3          .1

C (gang member)        1.6          1.0        .5          .3

AA (nongang)           2.5           .3        .7          .7

AA (gang member)       2.3           .1       1.3          .2

Finally, when the number of parental or teacher role models were analyzed, a marginally significant two-way interaction was obtained, F(1, 123) = 3.52, [MS.sub.e] = .47, p [is less than] .07. Inspection of Table 3 indicates that this was primarily due to the fact that African-American students who were not gang members were much more likely to mention parents or teachers as role models compared to all other groups of students.

Regression Analyses

Separate multiple regression analyses were applied to the data of Caucasian and African-American students. Both analyses used a backward-stepping solution with Condition (gang vs. nongang) treated as the dependent variable; Race and all of the test scores served as the independent variables (e.g., positive, negative and overall self-esteem, Caucasian and African-American RAAC scores, the number of type of role Models). The results for both analyses were similar in that parental role models emerged as the strongest predictor of gang membership for both Caucasian, partial r = .62, F(1, 58) = 8.25, multiple [r.sup.2] = .29, as well as African-American students, partial r = .60, F(1, 33) = 17.76, multiple [r.sup.2] = .36. Specifically, the absence of a parent or teacher role model was highly predictive of gang involvement. For Caucasian students, the number of Caucasian role models named was also a valid predictor of gang membership, partial r = .54, F(2, 56) = 23.42. This finding was primarily due to the fact that the parents of Caucasian students (and therefore parental role models) were also Caucasian--a relationship that would, of course, not apply to the African-American students. No other factors survived further stepping in either regression analysis. Hence, whether students were able to name their parents and teachers as people whom they most admire appears to be a strong predictor of gang involvement. Interestingly, none of the measures of self-esteem were predictive of gang membership.

DISCUSSION

This study tested three hypotheses concerning the self-esteem and racial attitudes of gang members versus their nongang peers. These hypotheses were based on the assumption that social identity consisted of three components: motivational (self-esteem), cognitive (racial stereotyping), and sociocultural (the number and type of self-professed role models). In general, modest support was obtained for social identity theory (Tajfel, 1974, 1982) and Kaplan's (1975) theory of self-esteem motivation. The following is a summary of the study's main findings as they relate to each hypothesis.