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Depression, suicidal behavior more common in adolescent gang members
Depression and suicidal behavior were significantly more common among youth who joined gangs, than their peers who did not, according to findings in Criminal Justice and Behavior.
“Youth who join a gang are much more likely to have mental health issues, and then being in the gang actually makes it worse,” study researcher Chris Melde, PhD, of Michigan State University, said in a press release. “It doesn’t act as an antidepressant. Some people may be seeking that out — a sense of well-being or purpose.”
Chris Melde
To assess the relationship between gang membership and emotional health, researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health in two stages. The first stage included adolescents attending middle and high school who completed in-school questionnaires during the 1994 to 1995 academic year. In the second stage, participants were interviewed in their homes. Approximately 21,000 participants completed the first in-home interview 1 year after the in-school survey. A second round of in-home interviews was conducted approximately 11 months later among 14,738 adolescents.
Participants who joined gangs reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and were nearly two times as likely to report suicidal thoughts, compared with those who did not join gangs.
Youth who became gang members were three times more likely to report attempting suicide in the last year compared with non-gang youth.
“Together, this body of work suggests that gang membership has the potential to desensitize youth to violence while providing increased access to the tools most likely to lead to a completed suicide. Based on this growing body of literature, the intersection of violence, mental health, and access to weapons among gangs and gang members is an area for future exploration,” the researchers concluded. – by Amanda Oldt
Disclosure: Please see the full study for a list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.