 For example, prior to conducting the Appreciative Inquiry with youth who were involved in gangs, I interviewed gang members. There were two major age groups interviewed, 13-18 year olds and 19-55 year olds. The interviewees came from a cross section of socio-economic backgrounds and included participants who lived in the city of Chicago as well as the surrounding, and somewhat affluent suburbs. The results of the interview data were analyzed through grounded theory analysis, which allows the researcher to generate theory versus logically deducing theory from empirical analysis. The hypotheses and concepts are then systematically worked out in relation to the data during the course of the research. Theory is then illustrated by characteristic examples from the data (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). The data that emerged from the interviews was also triangulated with the data that resulted from the Appreciative Inquiry intervention, which incorporated a different group of youth, however, similarly profiled, thus representing a more diverse socio-economic stratification of young people, which is also more representative of our African American communities.
The data from the interviews was quite disturbing. The data strongly suggested that the youth interviewed and those that participated in the intervention, developed alternative/parallel existences to cope in a society where they communicated feeling excluded. The data also suggested that the gang members across all ages interviewed held the common desire and value systems to make changes in their lives. For example, both age groups articulated desires to get out of the gang culture if they could see a viable means for exiting, with options that they believed could become a reality. This data also suggested that the self-esteem of these young people, particularly those of the younger age group, had been severely damaged.
However, the data that is so relevant for African American adults to understand is that these youth also communicated feeling unloved and uncared for, which led to their turning to anything that would remotely show them some of the relational caring that they so desperately desired. There was a striking difference between the data of the 13-18 year old group versus the older gang members, which suggest that there are serious issues that we have to understand and change before we loose more of our children.
The 13-18 year older youth viewed the family structure to
be broken and communicated being out of touch with their parents, who they
believed did not care. The failure to spend time with family was reported as a
central issue, compounded by a belief that other institution systems, such as
the school systems, are also failing them. They perceived that those
institutions do not care about them and believed that the institutions would
rather put them on the street than spend the time disciplining them and veering
them in the right direction. They reported believing that there are few if any
available adult role models to supply their nurturing needs. As a result, they
reported anger and their not feeling connected to society. They also reported
not feeling validated as individuals with needs by the adults in their
environments; and reported feelings of low self-esteem.
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