@article{ref1,
title="Individual, familial, and socio-environmental risk factors of gang membership in a  community sample of adolescents in southern Italy",
journal="International journal of environmental research and public health",
year="2020",
author="Bacchini, Dario and Dragone, Mirella and Esposito, Concetta and Affuso, Gaetana",
volume="17",
number="23",
pages="e8791-e8791",
abstract="Despite the growing social alarm generated by the recurrent news concerning violent  episodes involving youth gangs, systematic research in Italy in this field,  especially within a psychological framework, is still limited. Following a  social-ecological approach, the present study aimed at investigating the role of  self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs), parental rejection, and community violence  witnessing in youth gang membership (YGM). Furthermore, we examined the mediating  and/or moderating role of YGM in the association between risk factors and  involvement in antisocial behaviors (ASBs). A community sample of 817 adolescents  attending middle and high schools in a high-risk urban area in Southern Italy (46.9%  males; 53% middle school students; M(age) = 14.67; SD = 1.65) were involved in the  study. One hundred and fifty-seven participants (19.2%) were found to be gang  members. Employing counterfactual-based mediation analysis, we found that CDs and  community violence witnessing were directly associated with YGM and ASBs. The  association between CDs and ASBs was mediated by YGM. Parental rejection was  directly related to ASBs but not to YGM. A significant interaction effect between  parental rejection and YGM was found, revealing that high levels of parental  rejection, along with being a gang member, amplified the involvement in ASBs. These  findings pointed out that distorted moral cognitions and the experience of violence  witnessing within the community may represent a fertile ground for gang involvement. Both individual and contextual factors should be considered in order to implement  interventions aimed to prevent adolescents' risk of joining a gang.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-7827",
doi="10.3390/ijerph17238791",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17238791"
}