Associations Among Trauma Exposure, Callous-Unemotionality, Race or Ethnicity, and Gang Involvement in Justice-Involved Youth
| Author | Lucybel Mendez,Michaela M. Mozley,Patricia K. Kerig |
| DOI | 10.1177/0093854819897940 |
| Published date | 01 April 2020 |
| Date | 01 April 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2020
AssociAtions Among trAumA ExposurE,
cAllous-unEmotionAlity, rAcE or
Ethnicity, And gAng involvEmEnt in
JusticE-involvEd youth
LUCyBEL MENDEz
MICHAELA M. MOzLEy
PATRICIA K. KERIg
The University of Utah
The current study examined the association between trauma exposure and gang involvement and whether these interrelations
were explained by callous-unemotionality (CU). In addition, the current study examined whether the associations among
these variables differed based on race or ethnicity. A sample of 829 justice-involved youth (74% boys, 45% participants of
color) recruited from a detention center completed self-report measures of trauma exposure, CU, and gang involvement. A
moderated mediation analysis indicated that CU helped explain the association between trauma exposure and gang involve-
ment for non-Hispanic White participants only. In contrast, the direct association between trauma exposure and gang involve-
ment was significant across racial or ethnic groups. These findings highlight the importance of a trauma-informed perspective
on intervening and preventing gang involvement among youth.
Keywords: trauma exposure; CU; gang involvement; racial or ethnic groups; justice-involved youth
In recent years, youth gang involvement, defined as belonging to a social group with
some level of structure in which youth jointly participate in negative behaviors
(Esbensen et al., 2001), has been identified as a global concern. Research across the
globe has indicated that gang involvement has serious negative consequences and is
related to significant offending behavior (Pyrooz & Decker, 2013; Wood et al., 2017). In
the United States in particular, there are an estimated 29,400 youth gangs (Egley &
Howell, 2012), and participation in gangs has been related to heightened rates of delin-
quency and violent offending including homicide (DeLisi et al., 2014; Valdez et al.,
2009). Therefore, scholars have emphasized the importance of understanding the factors
that account for youth gang participation (Kerig et al., 2013).
Authors’ notE:This material is based upon work supported by a University of Utah Graduate Diversity
Scholar Fellowship to the first author, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to the
second author (Grant No. 1256065), and a grant from the National Institute of Justice (2014-R2-CX-0020) to
the third author. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lucybel Mendez, Department
of Psychology, The University of Utah, 380 S 1530 E BEH S 502, Salt Lake City, UT 84112; e-mail: lucybel.
mendez@psych.utah.edu.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2020, Vol. 47, No. 4, April 2020, 457 –469.
DOI: 10.1177/0093854819897940
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© 2020 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology
457
458 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR
Among the predictors of gang involvement, prior research suggests that a history of
childhood trauma exposure is a key risk factor (Newbold & Dennehy, 2003; Thompson &
Braaten-Antrim, 1998). For example, Thompson and Braaten-Antrim (1998) found that
adolescents who had experienced childhood physical and sexual abuse were 4 times more
likely to join gangs than were youth with similar demographic characteristics and other
ecological risk factors. Consistent with this, gang members report elevated rates of child-
hood traumatic experiences, including high levels of physical neglect; emotional, physical,
and sexual abuse; and witnessing of domestic and community violence (Augustyn et al.,
2017; Baron, 1997; Cepeda et al., 2016; Kerig et al., 2016; Madan et al., 2011; Quinn et al.,
2017; Thompson & Braaten-Antrim, 1998). In this regard, Bocanegra and Stolbach (2012)
found that trauma exposure among gang-involved youth began early (on average at age 6)
and was pervasive, with participants in their study reporting an average of 10 traumatic
events. These studies highlight the relevant impact of traumatic experiences on gang
involvement. However, there is a paucity of research that sheds light on the underlying
mechanisms that may help explain the association between trauma exposure and gang
involvement. To this end, the current study used developmental traumatology theory (for a
review, see Kerig & Becker, 2010) to examine putative mechanisms involved in the associa-
tion between trauma exposure and gang involvement with the hope that this research can
help inform preventive and treatment programs for youth at risk for gang participation.
One theoretically proposed mechanism that may help explain traumatized youths’
increased likelihood of participation in gangs is posttraumatic callousness (Kerig et al.,
2013). Research on the construct of callous-unemotionality (CU) has identified a subset of
adolescents distinguished by shallow emotions, lack of empathy and guilt, and insensitivity
to punishment (Roose et al., 2010). However, rather than viewing CU as an inherent trait,
trauma-focused theorists have suggested that the lack of empathy and remorse characteris-
tic of youth high in CU may arise when they attempt to cope with traumatic experiences
through the deactivation of emotions (Karpman, 1941; Porter, 1996). Furthermore, expo-
sure to adverse childhood environments has been posited to precipitate an unemotional
stress responsivity pattern akin to CU among adolescents (Ellis & Del giudice, 2019).
Thus, the literature suggests that CU may function as a costly coping and adaptive mecha-
nism that has short-term adaptive functions.
Consistent with this proposition, a significant body of research demonstrates that
experiences of childhood trauma, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse as
well as exposure to community violence, is related to elevated CU (Kahn et al., 2013;
Kerig et al., 2012; Kimonis, Cross, et al., 2013; Kimonis et al., 2008, 2012; Kimonis,
Fanti, et al., 2013). In addition, in a recent longitudinal study of justice-involved youth,
Waller et al. (2018) found that exposure to community violence was predictive of trajec-
tories involving moderate or high CU. Similarly, in a longitudinal study of high-risk
boys, Byrd et al. (2018) found that those who were identified as following an early and
chronic trajectory of CU had experienced higher rates of physical and emotional abuse
relative to youth with low CU. Taken together, this research indicates that trauma expo-
sure may be implicated in the emergence of CU.
In addition to the research that indicates CU may emerge following traumatic exposure,
a large body of research indicates that high CU also has implications for delinquent behav-
ior and gang involvement. Consistent with this idea, prior research has found that youth
with high CU demonstrate extensive and severe offending patterns relative to those without
Mendez et al. / TRAUMA EXPOSURE AND gANg INVOLVEMENT 459
CU (Meier et al., 2008; Pardini, 2006; for a review, see Frick et al., 2014). In addition,
elevated CU has been particularly implicated in the association between trauma exposure
and increased risky behaviors including recidivism (Mozley et al., 2018) and physical fights
(Carlson et al., 2015). Although research on the role of CU on gang involvement is scarce,
budding evidence suggests that CU is also related to an increased likelihood of gang involve-
ment (Thornton et al., 2015) and that gang-involved youth are more likely to endorse CU
and other personality characteristics related to psychopathy relative to those who are non-
gang-involved (Dmitrieva et al., 2014). However, to our knowledge, no study to date has
examined whether CU helps explain the association between trauma exposure and gang
involvement. Research that examines the role of CU following trauma exposure on gang
involvement may provide relevant information for intervention programs for at-risk youth.
Thus, the current study examined the impact of CU on the association between trauma
exposure and gang involvement.
Although trauma exposure and CU may be positively associated with youth gang involve-
ment, the relations between these risk factors and gang involvement may be expected to
differ based on race or ethnicity for a number of reasons. Research has shown that rates of
trauma exposure differ based on racial or ethnic background, with youth of color including
Black, Latino, and Native Americans reporting higher rates of childhood maltreatment and
other traumatic experiences relative to non-Hispanic White youth (Abram et al., 2004;
Roberts et al., 2011; Thompson & Braaten-Antrim, 1998). At the same time, a large body of
research has consistently demonstrated that youth of color are disproportionally more likely
to be involved in gangs than are non-Hispanic White youth (Bradshaw et al., 2013; Esbensen
& Carson, 2012; Esbensen & Winfree, 1998; Merrin et al., 2015). given that trauma expo-
sure has been implicated in the increased likelihood of gang involvement (Thompson &
Braaten-Antrim, 1998), the heightened risk for trauma exposure among youth of color may
further exacerbate their risk for gang involvement and potentially explain the disproportion-
ate representation of youth of color in gangs. Therefore, racial or ethnic background may be
implicated in the association between trauma exposure and gang involvement.
In addition to possible racial or...
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