Delinquent gangs have attracted the attention of social scientists for most
of the twentieth century. The current study presents a systematic comparis
on of the gang-related attitudes and behavior of youths living in cities of
dramatically differing size but subjected to similar cultural forces. Spec
ifically, we explored the attitudes and orientations of gang and nongang ei
ghth grade students living in two southwestern cities with large pluralitie
s of Mexican Americans: Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Cruces, New Mexico. While
statistical comparisons supported the position that the Phoenix children e
xpressed higher levels of pro-gang attitudes, there did not appear to be si
gnificant differences in self-reported Sang membership. Hispanic youths in
both cities were not only more pro-gang in their attitudes and orientations
, but they reported higher levels of gang membership. However, multivariate
analyses reveal that a far more complex set of forces is at work. (C) 2001
Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.