ABSTRACT
There are many things parents can do to help their children stay away from gangs, including monitoring their activities, fostering close relationships with them, and using positive and consistent discipline. However, parents often lack factual information about gangs. This guide is designed to provide parents with answers to common questions about gangs to enable them to recognize and prevent gang involvement. There are a lot of reasons why youth get involved in gangs. Sometimes youth get "pulled" into a gang because they think they might earn a lot of money and gain status, or they may think it is a good way to show family, neighborhood, or cultural pride. Young girls are especially vulnerable to sexual victimization. Youth who get caught up in gangs are also less likely to graduate high school, less likely to find stable jobs, and more likely to have alcohol and drug problems and even health problems later in life.
