Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“Soldiers Of The Same Struggle”: A Comparison Of Attachment And Personality Between Justice-Involved Youth In Gangs And Not In Gangs, Lyndsey Keyte

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Risk factors for juvenile delinquency and gang membership are essentially identical, although only a certain subset of justice-involved youth join gangs. In an attempt to identify factors that differentiate justice-involved youth in gangs from justice-involved youth not in gangs, the present study compared attachment styles and personality traits of 406 detained justice-involved youth, 154 of whom were gang-involved and 252 of whom were not. Results showed no significant differences in personality traits or attachment styles between justice-involved youth in gangs and not in gangs. However, results demonstrated attachment styles and personality traits characteristic of both groups of justice-involved youth.