With the topic of gang affiliation, most people are concerned about the risk factors involving gangs, ranging from when people first join a gang to when they are already in, even if they leave a gang. Most people are concerned about the risk factors becoming higher or lower. There are higher risk factors for teenagers to join a gang because of how the youth act in general, and how it can affect their lives now and in the future.
The environment the youth is associated with can affect how a child is influenced in gang society, These types of influences can alter a child's mind and create a bad image for the child, The Nation Gang Center states that "Violent family environments have been consistently identified among predictors…show more content… Just like mentioned before, school and other peers assess the toll any child takes when joining a gang. "According to the social-ecological model, youth are involved in a multitude of microsystems that could influence their behavior," he said. The role of school experiences, peer relationships, and, more generally, the dominant culture within the community where they live should be acknowledged. Moreover, the complexity of the human-environment transaction implied in the genesis of YGM suggests the utility of a multidisciplinary approach, considering the different levels of analysis of the phenomenon (psychological, social, legal, criminological)." Many different roles can differ a person from joining a gang or not, peer pressure can bribe an adolescent into joining a gang and other community-based activities can affect the youth. Not only can a single individual be affected, but many communities can face the same trauma just as much as one person can. "Large communities, those with a population over 50,000, are at the greatest risk of significant gang activity, and community members face heightened fear that they, their families, schools, or businesses, will become victims of theft and/or violence." Further, communities with gang activity are disproportionately
