title: Youth gang membership: Factors influencing and maintaining membership

authors: Campbell, Sarah Michelle

subjects: Youth gang

abstract: The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of young people who were actively engaged in youth gangs. This included developing an understanding of the factors that both influenced and maintained their desire for youth gang membership. This was achieved by carrying out seven semi-structured interviews with young people aged between sixteen and twenty-three who were residing in the city of Hamilton, New Zealand. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim to ensure the experiences of these young people were accurately recorded. A thematic analysis of the data was then carried out, highlighting both the themes and subthemes across the data set.

Five primary themes were identified within this data set to highlight the factors that both influenced and maintained a desire for youth gang membership. This included the influence of friends, the availability of money, and a desire to participate in antisocial behaviours within the gang. Participants also explained the importance of their neighbourhood surroundings in facilitating youth gang membership. While these overarching themes have been previously reported within literature (Goldstein, 1991; Thornberry, Krohn, Lizotte, Smith & Tobin, 2003), the young people in this study offered their subtly unique experiences and journey into the gang lifestyle. The final theme highlighted the negative evaluation that these young people perceived to experience from others which influenced and maintained their desire to pursue the gang lifestyle. This finding is not as prevalent in the existing youth gang literature, but is discussed within the social psychology literature as the "self-fulfilling prophecy".

One of the main findings of this study was that these young people were engaged in the youth gang lifestyle from as young as nine years of age. Once accepted into the gang, participants explained that they then began to withdraw from school and other mainstream activities to pursue their life in the gang. It then became difficult to present these young people with an alternative to their chosen lifestyle as they had access to the support, tangible goods and respect that was desired. They were also accepted into a group of like-minded friends who existed as a substitute family. Further research is needed to better understand the variety of experiences that young people in New Zealand have when joining a youth gang.

text: Youth gang membership: Factors influencing and maintaining membership The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of young people who were actively engaged in youth gangs. This included developing an understanding of the factors that both influenced and maintained their desire for youth gang membership. This was achieved by carrying out seven semi-structured interviews with young people aged between sixteen and twenty-three who were residing in the city of Hamilton, New Zealand. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim to ensure the experiences of these young people were accurately recorded. A thematic analysis of the data was then carried out, highlighting both the themes and subthemes across the data set.

Five primary themes were identified within this data set to highlight the factors that both influenced and maintained a desire for youth gang membership. This included the influence of friends, the availability of money, and a desire to participate in antisocial behaviours within the gang. Participants also explained the importance of their neighbourhood surroundings in facilitating youth gang membership. While these overarching themes have been previously reported within literature (Goldstein, 1991; Thornberry, Krohn, Lizotte, Smith & Tobin, 2003), the young people in this study offered their subtly unique experiences and journey into the gang lifestyle. The final theme highlighted the negative evaluation that these young people perceived to experience from others which influenced and maintained their desire to pursue the gang lifestyle. This finding is not as prevalent in the existing youth gang literature, but is discussed within the social psychology literature as the "self-fulfilling prophecy".

One of the main findings of this study was that these young people were engaged in the youth gang lifestyle from as young as nine years of age. Once accepted into the gang, participants explained that they then began to withdraw from school and other mainstream activities to pursue their life in the gang. It then became difficult to present these young people with an alternative to their chosen lifestyle as they had access to the support, tangible goods and respect that was desired. They were also accepted into a group of like-minded friends who existed as a substitute family. Further research is needed to better understand the variety of experiences that young people in New Zealand have when joining a youth gang.

year: 2011

title: Use of high-intensity data to define large river management units: A case study on the lower Waikato River, New Zealand

authors: Pingram, Michael Alister

subjects: biofish

abstract: The importance of environmental heterogeneity in lotic ecosystems is well recognised in river management, and continues to underpin studies of hierarchical patch dynamics, geomorphology and landscape ecology. We evaluated how physical characteristics and water chemistry measurements at high spatiotemporal resolution define channel units of potential ecological importance along 134 km of the lower Waikato River in North Island, New Zealand. We used multivariate hierarchical clustering to classify river reaches in an a priori unstructured manner based on (i) high-frequency, along-river water quality measurements collected in four seasons and (ii) river channel morphology data resolved from aerial photos for 1-km long reaches. Patterns of channel character were shaped by the depth and lateral complexity of constituent river reaches, while water quality patterns were represented by differences in clarity, chlorophyll fluorescence and specific conductance driven by tributary inflows in the mid-section of the river and tidal cycles in the lower section. Management units defined by physical characteristics or water quality did not necessarily align with boundaries typically reflecting clinal processes (e.g. tidal influence) or geomorphic, network or anthropogenic discontinuities. The results highlight the dynamic spatial and temporal properties of large rivers and the need to define clear objectives when deriving spatial units for management and research. Given that actions and targets for physical channel and water quality management may differ, the spatial extent identified for each of these does not necessarily need to directly coincide, although both should be considered in decision making and experimental design.

text: Use of high-intensity data to define large river management units: A case study on the lower Waikato River, New Zealand The importance of environmental heterogeneity in lotic ecosystems is well recognised in river management, and continues to underpin studies of hierarchical patch dynamics, geomorphology and landscape ecology. We evaluated how physical characteristics and water chemistry measurements at high spatiotemporal resolution define channel units of potential ecological importance along 134 km of the lower Waikato River in North Island, New Zealand. We used multivariate hierarchical clustering to classify river reaches in an a priori unstructured manner based on (i) high-frequency, along-river water quality measurements collected in four seasons and (ii) river channel morphology data resolved from aerial photos for 1-km long reaches. Patterns of channel character were shaped by the depth and lateral complexity of constituent river reaches, while water quality patterns were represented by differences in clarity, chlorophyll fluorescence and specific conductance driven by tributary inflows in the mid-section of the river and tidal cycles in the lower section. Management units defined by physical characteristics or water quality did not necessarily align with boundaries typically reflecting clinal processes (e.g. tidal influence) or geomorphic, network or anthropogenic discontinuities. The results highlight the dynamic spatial and temporal properties of large rivers and the need to define clear objectives when deriving spatial units for management and research. Given that actions and targets for physical channel and water quality management may differ, the spatial extent identified for each of these does not necessarily need to directly coincide, although both should be considered in decision making and experimental design.

year: 2014

title: The development of an indigenous knowledge program in a New Zealand Maori-language immersion school

authors: Harrison, Barbara

subjects: knowledge

abstract: In 1985, Te Wharekura o Rakaumangamanga initiated a Maori-language immersion program for children ages 5 through 18. In recent years, a program based on Waikato-Tainui tribal epistemology has been incorporated into the language immersion program. This article describes the community context and the language immersion and tribal knowledge programs. We consider the relationship of these programs to individual and tribal self-determination and to theories of minority achievement, particularly the work of John Ogbu.

text: The development of an indigenous knowledge program in a New Zealand Maori-language immersion school In 1985, Te Wharekura o Rakaumangamanga initiated a Maori-language immersion program for children ages 5 through 18. In recent years, a program based on Waikato-Tainui tribal epistemology has been incorporated into the language immersion program. This article describes the community context and the language immersion and tribal knowledge programs. We consider the relationship of these programs to individual and tribal self-determination and to theories of minority achievement, particularly the work of John Ogbu.

year: 2005-03