Risk and Protective Factors for Youth Gang Involvement in Canada: An ecological systems analysis

Bronfenbrenner’s social ecological model and Lerner’s youth positive development model were used to frame this study to guide the understanding of risk and protective factors associated with youth gang membership in a Canadian-based sample of male juvenile offenders (n = 112). Given the paucity of research on protective factors against gang involvement, attention in the current study was given to exploring whether there was overlap between known protective factors against violence and factors that may protect against youth involvement in gangs. Findings indicated that youth gang involvement was associated with an accumulation of risk factors in individual, peer, family, and community domains and an absence of protective factors in individual and family domains. In addition, some protective factors were found to aggravate the effects of risk factors on gang involvement in youth with psychopathic personality traits. Implications for theory and policy along with recommendations for future research are discussed.