Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113752

David T. Mayeda, ABD, Department of Psychiatry, Asian Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center, University of Hawaii, 1441 Kapiolani Boulevard, Suite 1802, Honolulu, HI 96814, (808) 945-1517, mayedad@dop.hawaii.edu

Youth gang affiliation has stood as a major area of study for criminologists since the early 20th century. Over the decades, researchers have consistently found that youth gang affiliation leads to heightened delinquency, in the forms of property damage and interpersonal violence. However, much of the research with youth gangs has been responsive, in that it examines delinquency as an after effect of gang membership. This presentation will outline how exposure to youth gangs, by way of having friends and/or family members in a gang, also impacts adolescents' propensity to engage in violent behaviors. Data for this presentation (N = 333) were gathered through a randomized survey of students from three public high schools on Oahu, Hawaii. Student participants in the study were predominantly of Filipino, Japanese, Native Hawaiian, and Samoan ancestries. Results show highest gang exposure among Filipino, and especially Samoan participants, as well as significantly increased levels of interpersonal violence reported by students with high gang exposure. Gender differences in gang exposure and interpersonal violence will also be discussed for each respective ethnic group. This presentation will close with recommendations for preventing youth violence in schools through gang prevention initiatives with students from diverse ethnocultural and low-socioeconomic communities. Moreover, this presentation will profile school-based violence prevention programs that attempt to lessen gang membership and exposure.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to identify youth gang issues as they relate to youth violence prevention.
• At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to create assessment tools and procedures to measure gang exposure and youth violence.
• At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to list school-based youth gang prevention programs for possible implementation.

Keywords: Violence Prevention, School-Based Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation