The Relationship between Motivations for Joining Gangs and Violent Offending: A Preliminary Test on Self-Determination Theory

ABSTRACT

Efforts to better understand violence have often compared gang members to non-gang members, finding, expectedly, that gang members engage in more violent behaviors. Often overlooked, however, is the variation of violence that exists among gang members. This variation may be tied to one’s reasons for joining a gang in the first place. Members join gangs for different reasons, and these reasons may lead to varying criminogenic outcomes. Reasons youth join gangs have previously been categorized into push and pull factors. The current study builds on this classification by adopting self-determination theory, grouping reasons into intrinsic, extrinsic, and mixed motivations. Using a school-based longitudinal sample of adolescents, the current study explores the relationship between motivation behind joining a gang and subsequent violent offending. Results reveal that street gang members who joined gangs for mixed motivations reported more violent offending than those who joined gangs for extrinsic motivation only and those who joined for intrinsic motivation contemporaneously. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed in terms of motivation and peer influence.

KEYWORDS:

• Motivation
• gang
• self-determination theory
• violent offending

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Science in Kansas City, MO. The authors would like to thank all the comments from all the audience and previous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The seven cities include: Albuquerque, NM; Chicago, IL; Greeley, CO; Nashville, TN; Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR; and Dallas–Fort Worth, TX (Esbensen et al., 2012).

2. No multicollinearity was found in the model. No tolerance value of any variable is below 0.10.