Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescent Gang Membership: Utilizing Latent Class Analysis to Understand the Relationship

The proposed dissertation research seeks to study the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on gang involvement. The applicant proposes to use the Pittsburgh Youth Study that collected waves of data on over 1,500 randomly selected youth from 1st grade through the age of 35, from 1987-2010. A latent class analysis (LCA) will be performed to create typologies of various ACEs and its relationship to youth gang membership. The key ACE factors to be studied are abuse, neglect, parental incarceration, bullying, and environmental dangers. The LCA will help identify how certain ACEs, or combinations of ACEs, influence gang membership. "Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law," and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF