Affiliation to Youth Gangs During Adolescence: The Interaction Between Childhood Psychopathic Tendencies and Neighborhood Disadvantage Véronique Dupéré & Éric Lacourse & J. Douglas Willms & Frank Vitaro & Richard E. Tremblay Received: 19 July 2006 / Accepted: 11 June 2007 / Published online: 4 July 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract Because youth gangs tend to cluster in disadvan- taged neighborhoods, adolescents living in such neighbor- hoods are more likely to encounter opportunities to join youth gangs. However, in the face of these opportunities, not all adolescents respond in the same manner. Those with preexisting psychopathic tendencies might be especially likely to join. In this study, we tested whether a combination of individual propensity and facilitating neighborhood conditions amplifies the probabilities of youth gang affilia- tion. A subset of 3,522 adolescents was selected from a nationally representative, prospective sample of Canadian youth. Psychopathic tendencies (i.e., a combination of high hyperactivity, low anxiety, and low prosociality as compared to national norms) were assessed through parent reports, while neighborhood characteristics (i.e., concentrated eco- nomic disadvantage and residential instability) were derived from the 2001 Census of Canada. Our results indicated that neighborhood residential instability, but not neighborhood concentrated economic disadvantage, interacted with indi- vidual propensity to predict youth gang membership. Adolescents with preexisting psychopathic tendencies appeared especially vulnerable mainly if they were raised in residentially unstable neighborhoods. Keywords Youth gangs . Neighborhood disadvantage . Neighborhood residential instability . Individual propensity . Psychopathic tendencies Becoming involved in a youth gang has considerable immediate and long-term significance in an adolescent’ s adjustment and development. In the immediate, member- ship to this kind of group has a facilitating effect on violence and other forms of serious delinquency and, consequently, greatly increases the likelihood of arrest and conviction (Gatti et al. 2005; Lacourse et al. 2003; Thornberry et al. 2003). Furthermore, adolescents involved in gangs are not only the perpetrators of violence, but also its victims, for they are at great risk of injury and even death (Curry and Decker 2003). In the longer term, joining a youth gang appears to be a key element in a process of distancing oneself from conventional society, a process with consequences that persist well beyond the actual period of gang involvement. Joining such a group often leads to premature transitions into adult roles via events such as school dropout or teenage parenthood (Thornberry et al. 2003). The colossal individual and social costs of J Abnorm Child Psychol (2007) 35:1035–1045 DOI 10.1007/s10802-007-9153-0 V. Dupéré (*) Department of Psychology and Research Unit on Children’ s Psychosocial Maladjustment (GRIP), Université de Montréal, 3025, rue Holt, app.5, Montréal, QC H1Y 1R2, Canada e-mail: veronique.dupere@umontreal.ca É. Lacourse Department of Sociology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada J. D. Willms Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy, University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada F. Vitaro Department of Psychoeducation, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada É. Lacourse : F. Vitaro : R. E. Tremblay GRIP, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada