Trauma Exposure and Adolescent Gang Involvement: Distinguishing the Roles of Specific Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Objective: Trauma-informed perspectives and empirical research point to childhood trauma exposure as a risk factor for adolescent gang involvement. However, the mechanisms that help to explain this link are not well-understood. Recent theory has suggested the potential influence of posttraumatic stress symptoms, and specifically reckless or self-destructive behavior (RSDB), in explaining the association between trauma exposure and adolescent gang involvement. Method: To test this proposition, the current study assessed both individual and sequential indirect effects linking trauma exposure, DSM-5 posttraumatic stress symptom clusters, RSDB, and gang membership using self-report measures collected from 319 justice-involved youth. Results: Findings demonstrated that trauma exposure was associated with gang involvement through a probable diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder and through symptoms of alterations in arousal and reactivity, including RSDB. Furthermore, the results demonstrated a significant sequential indirect effect linking trauma exposure to gang involvement through negative alterations in cognition and mood and RSDB. Conclusions: The present findings have potential clinical implications for programming aimed at deterring gang involvement among trauma-exposed adolescents.