Family’s Subjective | Well Being

ABSTRACT

Using a quasi-experimental design and self report methodology, this paper examines the effects of youth gang membership on families’ subjective well-being. Two groups of families consisting of 57 families with children in gangs or at risk of being in gangs and 57families with children not involved in gangs and not identified as at-risk of joining gangs are compared to (1) analyze differences in the levels of satisfaction and subjective well-being of families with and without children in gangs and (2) investigate the effect of the number of children in gangs on parental well-being. The families are matched on variables of (1) responding parents age (+/− 2 years); (2) the number of children a family had; (3) ages of children (+/− 1 year); (4) child's grade in school (+/− 1 grade); (5) family's socioeconomic status measured by total annual income (+/− $3000); (6) family structure; (7) church attendance; and (8) gender of the child in the program. The findings showed that parents with