title: Convention Versus Deviance: Moral Agency in Adolescent Gang Members' Decision Making.
abstract: Adolescent gang members are a source of concern due to their involvement in criminal activity, violence, substance use, and high-risk sexual behaviors. Adolescent gang theories hypothesize that social institutions, including the family and school, fail to meet the needs of adolescents who therefore feel less attachment to these institutions and find an unconventional institution (i.e. the gang) to meet these needs through the gang.
  
  
  
  In this paper, we will examine the extent to which social disorganization and social control theories, in particular the rejection of conventional norms and aspirations, match adolescents' subjective reasons for their decisions and their future aspirations.
  
  
  
  Between 2012 and 2013, we conducted in-depth interviews with 58 gang members between the ages of 14 to 19. Interviews were coded for key themes using the constant comparison method.
  
  
  
  Social disorganization and social control theories have both value and limitations in explaining reasons why adolescents join gangs and engage in criminal behaviors. Participants saw many of their aspirations blocked by negative school experiences and limited economic opportunities. Gangs provided a social organization in which to sell drugs. However, gang members did not reject conventional norms and aspirations. Rather, they view themselves as making decisions to survive in the present while recognizing that these strategies will not continue to work in the future.
  
  
  
  Gang members value education and aspire to obtain legal employment. Thus, interventions to help adolescent gang members with the immediate financial pressures that lead them to sell drugs may be particularly effective.
authors.affiliation: a Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine , Medical College of Wisconsin , Milwuakee , Wisconsin , USA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dickson-Gomez
authors.affiliation: b Emergency Medicine , University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pacella
authors.affiliation: c Center for AIDS Intervention Research , Medical College of Wisconsin , Milwaukee , Wisconsin , USA.
authors.forename: Michelle Renee
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Broaddus
authors.affiliation: c Center for AIDS Intervention Research , Medical College of Wisconsin , Milwaukee , Wisconsin , USA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: c Center for AIDS Intervention Research , Medical College of Wisconsin , Milwaukee , Wisconsin , USA.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Galletly
authors.affiliation: c Center for AIDS Intervention Research , Medical College of Wisconsin , Milwaukee , Wisconsin , USA.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rivas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000850:Anomie; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescents; drug selling; gangs; school experiences; substance use