Title: Poverty, Broken Homes, Violence: The Making of a Gang Member | Psychology Today
Headings: Poverty, Broken Homes, Violence: The Making of a Gang Member
Robert T Muller Ph.D.
Poverty, Broken Homes, Violence: The Making of a Gang Member
How the need for community leads some teens to find it in gangs.

Content: The men he interviewed reported that they considered fellow gang members to be family and that they took care of each other. Killian found that most of the gang members he interviewed had tattoos to publicly show their allegiance to their particular gang, and to show pride in belonging to the group. Several gang members said that being part of a gang meant you were never alone in the world, which is similar to how many people describe being part of a close-knit family or group of friends. Gangs provide members a sense of belonging and protection they do not receive from other relationships or experiences in life. In addition to the intense feeling of family provided by gang membership, those gang members interviewed by Killian, also referred to the fantasy of a “Cinderella” story portrayed by films like Scarface, and rappers such as 50-Cent, Tupac Shakur, and the Notorious B.I. G. The media portray gangster life as one filled with excitement, power, fortune, and ease. Experts assert that many adolescents simply fall victim to the “rags to riches” fairytale glamorized by popular culture. Given that adolescents are joining gangs as young as 11 years of age, these children lack the maturity and critical thinking skills required to fully understand danger and negative consequences. Coupled with a lack of support and guidance from positive role models, oftentimes a life of relative poverty, and few alternate activities to occupy their attention, it becomes easy for these youth to be wooed by the false promise of a glamorous lifestyle and for older gang members to step into the role of mentor. Unfortunately, gang influence can be rather difficult to control. The problem with gang prevention efforts is that many of the risk factors associated with membership are connected to complex social issues outside of the control of any one individual.