A Critical Analysis on Mexican Americans Associated with Gangs Living in San Antonio, Texas
Abstract
The U.S has a major national concern of mass incarceration. Mass incarceration poses a threat to achieve health equity as there are many adverse health effects documented related to incarceration (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis, etc.,). There is a great need to conduct research on incarceration with a critical lens. The present study examined the incarceration trajectories of Mexican American men who were associated with gangs during their youth and lived in the west side of San Antonio. This cohort of males were followed at three different timepoints in their life using retrospective data. The study spanned from 1997-2012. To identify latent classes, growth mixture modeling was utilized. The results indicated two latent classes of incarceration. One-way ANOVAs, chi-square tests of independence and a one-way MANOVA were conducted to determine associations with the latent classes. The one-way MANOVA yielded statistically significant differences between the two classes on depression and behavioral risk violence. These findings contribute to the literature and give researchers a better understanding of the heterogeneity of individuals who are incarcerated. The findings have important implications for ensuring mental health providers are fully equipped to treat formerly incarcerated individuals.
Subject Area
Organizational behavior|Criminology|Hispanic American studies|Social psychology|Behavioral psychology
Recommended Citation
Gonzales, Rubi Guadalupe, "A Critical Analysis on Mexican Americans Associated with Gangs Living in San Antonio, Texas" (2021). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI28716547.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI28716547