Title: Why Do Teenagers Join Gangs? - Venture Articles
Headings: Why Do Teenagers Join Gangs?
Why Do Teenagers Join Gangs?
Content: Respect and Peer Pressure
Probably the number one reason for teenagers joining gangs, is for respect or because of peer pressure. To understand why a teen joins a gang, you have to live in their areas and understand the environment for teens. In gang neighborhoods, majority of the teens may be in a gang. This is almost equivalent to a cool club, because those who are not in the gang are viewed as outsiders and members of the gang may choose to avoid them for not being part of their club. So in an effort to be accepted by their peers and to be liked, many teenagers will join the gang. Most young people want to be accepted and want to be considered cool by their peers. Many kids may even have older siblings that are already in a gang or friends that joined one before they did, so they are pressured into joining. Fear
Some teens may have been abused by their parents or someone else back in their past, or may just be scared of people in general. So they join gangs in an effort to dispense a little fear into people, sort of like a payback or a rebound effect. They want people to be afraid of them, so they can no longer feel afraid or so they can do to others what has been to them.