Methamphetamine and Polysubstance Abuse of Homeless Gang Members and Gang Affiliates

Background: Homeless youth (HY) is a large and growing population with an estimated 1.6 million in America. Additionally, youth gang membership and related negative outcomes continues to be a national problem. These two social issues intersect as many HY identify as being a part of a gang or closely connected to a gang member. Homeless youth use illegal substances at higher levels then housed youth often as a coping mechanism for stress associated with life on the streets or mitigating the effects of childhood and current trauma. The purpose of this current study is to determine if gang involvement is related to increased substance use amongst HY.

Method: A sample of 614 Los Angeles area drop-in service seeking HY completed a self-administered questionnaire. Youth were asked if they have ever identified as a gang member as well as if they have ever had a family member, romantic partner or close friend that was a gang member. Youth that yes to the latter questions but were not themselves in a gang were labeled as gang affiliates. Youth were also asked if they had used various types of drugs during the previous month including heroin, powder cocaine, methamphetamine, crack cocaine and ecstasy. If a youth indicated using more than one of these substances in the previous month they were coded as a polysubstance user. Univariable logistic regression models were used to test the likelihood of drug use for gang members and gang affiliates compared to non-gang involved HY. Drugs associated at the p<0.1 level were entered into a multivariable logistic regressions, controlling for gender, age, and race.

Results: Fifteen percent the sample identified as gang members and 38% percent were gang affiliates. Methamphetamine use (22%) and polysubstance use rates were the highest within the sample; both were associated with gang involvement at the univariable level and entered into multivariable models. Findings revealed that controlling for gender, age and race, gang affiliates had twice the odds of recent meth use compared to non-gang youth (95% CI=1.4, 3.3). Being a gang member was not associated with greater meth use compared to non-gang youth. White youth were more likely to indicate polysubstance use (OR=2.43, 95 %CI=1.8, 5.0) and being a gang affiliate (OR=3.1, 95% CI=2.0, 4.8) or a gang member (OR=2.3, 95% CI=1.2, 4.2) increased risk of polysubstance use compared to non-gang youth..

Discussion: HY reported higher rates of gang membership and affiliation then what is found in housed youth populations. Results indicate that those closely affiliated with a gang member have similar or greater risk of harmful substance-using behaviors, .This demonstrates the need for comprehensive interventions to reduce substance use risk behaviors within high-risk populations and when considering targeting behaviors associated with gangs, it is necessary to reach out to those beyond direct gang members.