Moving into motherhood: Gang girls and controlled risk

Abstract

A growing body of research challenges the popular characterization that young mothers are bad mothers. This article focuses on a group of girls and young women who were pregnant or mothers and who were engaged in a risky lifestyle through their heavy involvement in gangs, partying, and drinking. The authors examine the impact of the process of motherhood at its different stages (from pregnancy to parenthood) on both the "homegirls" involvement and membership in the gang and their alcohol consumption. The authors consider the extent to which different stages of motherhood influence a homegirl's overall alcohol consumption and drinking practices both within and outside of the gang. The analysis draws from the qualitative and quantitative data of an ongoing comparative study on ethnic youth gangs in the San Francisco Bay Area.