Sibling Transmission of Gang Involvement

• Author: Robert Apel,Sadaf Hashimi,Sara Wakefield
• Published date: 01 August 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/0022427820986592
• Date: 01 August 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Sibling Transmission

of Gang Involvement

Sadaf Hashimi

1

, Sara Wakefield

1

,

and Robert Apel

1

Abstract

Objectives: The processes driving gang entry and disengagement are central

to classic and contemporary criminological research on gang involvement.

Yet, the role of delinquent peer friendship networks in contouring gang

membership has driven much of criminological research, with little empirical

research devoted to understanding sibling influences on the gang career.

Method: The study uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to

examine the transmission of gang membership among similar-aged siblings.

These data offer the opportunity to use siblings’ self-report of gang involve-

ment as a determinant of focal youths’ self-report of gang involvement while

treating gang entry, persistence, and exit (and reentry) as unique transitions

with potentially asymmetric determinants. Results: Results from the event

history models indicate that gang involved siblings increase the hazard of

entry and re-entry into the gang but have little influence on exit decisions.

Sibling configurations with respect to sex and age-order further conditions

these relations, with brothers and older siblings most influential. Conclusion:

Ties to siblings serve as a salient and intimate type of social tie with siblings

1

School of Criminal Justice, Center for Law & Justice, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sadaf Hashimi, School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, 123 Washington Street, Newark,

NJ 07102, USA.

Email: sadaf.hashimi@rutgers.edu

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2021, Vol. 58(5) 507-544

ªThe Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0022427820986592

journals.sagepub.com/home/jrc

serving multiplex roles in each other’s lives. Findings lend additional insight

on crime concentration in family networks and advance our understanding

of continuity and change in gang involvement

Keywords

sibling influences, gang involvement, nlsy97, gang career, social learning

theory

Introduction

The typical “career” in a gang is short-lived, lasting two years or less, with

only a small subset of youth cycling in and out of the gang network beyond

early adulthood (Pyrooz 2014; Pyrooz, Sweeten and Piquero 2013;

Thornberry et al. 2003). While short-lived, the consequences of gang invol-

vement for crime, health, educational attainment, and employment often

last well into adulthood (Krohn et al. 2011; Thornberry et al., 2003). Like

other forms of crime and adjacent behaviors, gang involvement also tends to

be concentrated within families (Augustyn, Ward, and Krohn 2017;

Sanchez-Jankowski 1991).

In this paper, we ask whether the gang career of one sibling structures

that of another during adolescence and emerging adulthood (Dong, Gibson,

and Krohn 2015). Our focus on siblings is guided by several insights. First,

while sibling influence is a focus of much research on crime and punish-

ment (e.g., Lauritsen 1993; Rowe and Farrington 1997; West and Farrington

1977) and it is not uncommon for gang members to report gang-involved

grandparents, parents, and extended family members (Augustyn et al. 2017;

Decker and van Winkle 1996; Vigil 1988), the influence of siblings relative

to parents and unrelated peers has receded more recently (e.g., McGloin and

Thomas 2019; Wildeman 2020; but see Beaver 2013). Second, like parents

and unrelated peers, siblings can reinforce behaviors, transmit values, and

serve as an extension to one another’s identity and self-evaluation (Akers

1998; Kramer and Conger 2009; Vigil 1988) and often do so throughout the

life course (Conger and Reuter 1996; Rowe, Rodgers and Meseck-Bushey

1992). Yet siblings are neither friends nor parents—though they share

characteristics of each—and may represent an important social tie for

understanding gang involvement and the evolution of a gang career.

Drawing from social learning theory and life course perspectives on

sibling influence and criminal careers (Akers 1985, 1998; Pyrooz 2014;

508 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 58(5)

Pyrooz, Sweeten, and Piquero 2013), we find that siblings serve as one

potential entry point into gang involvement. The results to follow shows

that siblings promote entry into a gang and reentry after a period of disen-

gagement. Our findings are heterogeneous with respect to gang persistence

and exit, however. Young men who have a male sibling and respondents

with an older sibling who has left a gang are more likely to disengage from

gang involvement as well. Our findings suggest that siblings serve as an

important entry point into gangs, and sibling relationships may be a

neglected point of intervention to reduce the negative consequences of gang

involvement.

Theoretical Background

Though much of social learning research focuses on schoolmates and

friends, we anticipate equally important s ibling influences on behaviors

through similar socialization effects. A central tenet of the theory is that

behavior is learned through repeated interactions. It follows that deviant

behavior, much like any other behavior, is partly learned by associating

with individuals who are “carriers” of deviant and non-deviant norms and

behaviors (Akers and Sellers 2013; Sutherland 1947). Akers (1985, 1998)

casts the learning process into four con structs: associations, definitions,

reinforcements, and imitation. In addition to learning from direct observa-

tion and mimicry of behavior from others, the theory emphasizes that

repeated associations with those supporting and tolerant of deviant behavior

shape one’s definitions of, and the likelihood of partaking in, such behavior.

From this perspective, deviant behavior can also carry social rewards (e.g.,

status and acceptance among peers) that endorse it. The core constructs of

learning theory have been explored extensively, proving to be strong pre-

dictors of deviant behaviors (Pratt et al., 2010) and gang involvement

(Curry, Decker, and Pyrooz 2014).

Studies of gang involvement support social learning theory with respect

to unrelated peers, finding that gang involvement varies with the frequency,

intensity, duration, and priority of an individual’s associations to those with

definitions that are favorable to the gang (see Winfree and Freng 2015 for a

review). Associations with gang members may be mutually re inforcing,

providing support in the form of companionship (Dishion, Nelson, and

Yasui 2005; Vigil 1988), protection (Sanchez-Jankowski 1991), reinforce-

ment of criminal tendencies (Reiss 1988), or financial or instrumental ben-

efits (Levitt and Venkatesh 2001), such as social status (Thornberry et al.

2003), that are driven by gang activities. Empirical associations between

Hashimi et al. 509