The authors investigated the relationships of gender and gang membership to latent variables of psychosocial characteristics, drug use, delinquency, weapons possession, and fear within rural and urban school districts in Colorado. They compared 1,669 self-reported gang members to a sample of 1,742 nongang members in Grades 7 through 12. Gender was related more strongly to the latent variables than was place, which tended to favor the urban districts.
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