Abstract
Mexican American youth represent one of the fastest growing subpopulations with persons of Mexican origin comprising approximately 65 % of the Hispanic population in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau 2008). Mexican Americans also represent a disproportionate percentage of both substance using and gang populations (Valdez and Sifaneck 2004). In part, this may be due to both a young Mexican American age composition that reflects immigration patterns and an age-graded proclivity towards adolescent substance use and gang membership. In addition, due to socioeconomic disadvantages, Mexican American youth may be at an elevated risk for compromised social bonds and subsequent delinquent behaviors. This chapter employs a life course perspective to examine the extent that adolescent informal social control processes mediate the relationship between gang memberships and adolescent delinquent behavior in a population of young Mexican Americans.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Caspi, A., Elder, G. H, Jr. et al. (1992). Childhood personality and the prediction of life-course patterns. In L. Robins & M. Rutter (Eds.), Straight and devious pathways from childhood to adulthood (pp. 13–35). New York: Cambridge Press.
Covey, H. C., Menard, S. et al. (1992). Juvenile gang violence. In H. C. Covey (Ed.), Juvenile gangs (pp. 27–47). Springfield: Charles C. Thompson Publications.
Decker, S. H., & Van Winkle, B. (1996). Life in the gang: family, friends, and violence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Elder, G. H, Jr. (1985). Perspectives in the Life Course. In G. H. Elder Jr. (Ed.), Life course dynamics (pp. 23–49). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Hser, Y. I., Longshore, D., et al. (2007). The life course perspective on drug use: A conceptual framework for understanding drug use trajectories. Evaluation Review, 31(6), 515.
Kornhauser, R. R. (1978). Social sources of delinquency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McLellan, A. T., Lewis, D. C., et al. (2000). Drug dependence, a chronic medical illness: Implications for treatment, insurance, and outcomes evaluation. JAMA, 284(13), 1689.
Moore, J. W. (1994). The chola life course: Chicana heroin users and the barrio gang. International Journal of the Addictions, 29(9), 1115–1126.
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2008). A general age-graded theory of crime: Lessons learned and the future of life-course criminology. In D. P. Farrington (Ed.), Integrated developmental and life-course theories of offending: Advances in criminological theory (Vol. 14). New Brunswick: Transaction.
Thornberry, T. P., Krohn, M. D., et al. (2003). Gangs and delinquency in developmental perspective. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2008). American Community Survey demographic and housing estimates: 2006–2008. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Commerce.
Valdez, A., & Kaplan, C. (2007). Conditions that increase drug market involvement: The invitational edge and the case of Mexicans in South Texas. Journal of Drug Issues, 37(4), 893–917.
Valdez, A., & Sifaneck, S. J. (2004). “Getting high and getting by”: Dimensions of drug selling behaviors among American Mexican gang members in south Texas. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 41(1), 82.
Acknowledgements
This Research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Grants R01DA08604 and R01DA023857.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Valdez, A., Saint Onge, J.M., Cepeda, A., Kaplan, C. (2016). The Influence of Informal Social Control Processes on Drug Trajectories and Delinquent Behavior Among Mexican American Gang Members. In: Thomas, Y., Price, L. (eds) Drug Use Trajectories Among Minority Youth. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7491-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7491-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-7489-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-7491-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)