Somali children and youth in displacement are exposed to prolonged trauma and chronic violence. In spite of a striking link among trauma, gang activities, victimization, and perpetration of violence, however, few studies have been conducted with Somali refugee youth in low-resource urban settings. This qualitative study demonstrates how prolonged trauma shapes ecological conditions of refugee life that induce vulnerable youth to forge support systems through gang membership and violence. The accession of the challenges, from loss of family, to discrimination and police brutality, and to chronic impoverishment, forces the high-risk refugee youth to replicate the various forms of violence to which they have been exposed to survive. Undergoing such chronic and cumulated trauma, these youth continue to normalize and become further desensitized to violence. The systems perspective of this study expands understanding of the intersection of trauma and gang membership and implies the need for an expanded approach to trauma and understanding of the complexities of gang involvement, beyond posttraumatic stress disorder treatment and clinical intervention. © 2016 Taylor & Francis.

community violence Aggression Adolescent Exposure to violence war/conflict/terrorism offender/perpetrator trauma

personal experience vulnerable population urban area refugee basic needs offender human life event violence Kenya social needs psychosocial care qualitative research quality of life Young Adult Adolescent male female police gang clinical article emotional stress Article adult posttraumatic stress disorder crime victim parent counseling grief