Transcript Identifying Risk and Protective Factors in Young

Identifying Risk and Protective
Factors in Young People?
Risk and Protection Factors For
Young People
Hawkins and Catalano
•
Hawkins, J.D., Brown, E.C., Oesterle, S., Arthur, M.W., Abbott, R.D., and Catalano, R.F. (2008) Early
effects of Communities That Care on targeted risks and initiation of delinquent behavior and substance
use. Journal of Adolescent Health. 43(1), pp 15-22.
http://www.communitiesthatcare.net/about/
How do we understand a framework that can support resource
distribution to the most disadvantaged and use current community
resources for universal delivery?
Universal
Early
Intervention
High Risk
Risk Factors: Catalano
• Catalano research
Communities that Care (CTC)
targets influential risk factors
that arise in each of the four
domains influencing social
behaviour:
•
•
•
•
Family;
School;
community and
individual/peers.
Family Risk Factors
• Poor parental supervision and discipline
• Failure to set clear expectations for children and inadequate
supervision. Harsh and erratic discipline.
• Family conflict and violence
• Persistent, serious conflict between
parents, or between parents and their
children.
Family Risk Factors
• Family history of problem behaviours
• Children raised in a family where a parent, brother or sister is (or has
been) addicted to drugs (including alcohol) are at increased risk of
drug problems themselves.
Family Risk Factors
• Parental involvement/attitudes condoning problem behaviours
• Children who know of their parents' involvement in drug abuse or
crime are at increased risk. Low income and poor housing.
Family Risk Factors
• Low family income and living
in inadequate, overcrowded
accommodation.
Family Risk Factors
• Low achievement beginning in primary school. Pupils who fall behind
in basic skills like reading and mathematics.
• Lack of commitment to school, including truancy - Young people who
feel no commitment to learning or to school are at increased risk of
all four problem behaviours.
• School disorganisation.
• Low scores in achievement tests do not necessarily mean that
schools are failing their pupils. Motivated staff may be making real
progress with classes that include a high.
• If they can engage and are aspirational.
School Risk Factors
• Aggressive behaviour, including bullying - Disruptive behaviour in
primary school is a strong predictor of later involvement in youth
crime and violence.
School Risk Factors
• Disadvantaged neighbourhood children who live in run-down
neighbourhoods where there are concentrations of low-income
families and high levels of crime
• Community disorganisation and neglect neighbourhoods marked by
high levels of vandalism, low surveillance and general disrepair.
Community Risk Factors
• Availability of drugs - the more drugs are available in a
neighbourhood, the greater the chances that young people will
become users and participate in supply networks.
Community Risk Factors
• High Turnover and lack of
neighbourhood attachment
• Drug and youth crime problems
are more common in
communities where residents
dislike their neighbourhood and
have stopped believing there is
anything they can do that will
make a difference.
Risk Factors Relating to
Individuals, Friends and Peers
• Alienation and lack of social commitment - Young people who feel
excluded from the mainstream, Who believe they have little future,
who see no point in trying to be successful and who feel little sense
of responsibility towards other people
• Attitudes that condone problem behaviours Primary school children
who learn about good citizenship normally find it hard to imagine why
teenagers become involved in crime, drugs and other unhealthy
behaviour.
• Early involvement in problem behaviours. The earlier that young
people start to use illegal drugs, commit crime, the greater the risk
Risk Factors Relating To
Individuals, Friends and Peers
• Friends involved in problem behaviours
• Young people whose friends behave anti-socially are more likely to
behave that way themselves.
Protective Factors and Processes
• Protective factors can reduce the impact of
risk
• Protective factors buffer children and
young people against the negative
consequences of exposure to risk. They
work by either reducing the impact of the
risk or changing the way that the individual
responds to it.
• Protective factors hold the key to
understanding how to reduce those risks
and how to encourage positive behaviour
and social development.
• One of the most effective ways to reduce
children’s risks of developing problem behaviours
is to strengthen their bonds with family members.
With teachers and with other socially responsible
adults and friends.
• Research shows how children living in otherwise
adverse circumstances – for example
experiencing low family income, a deprived
neighbourhood or parental separation – can be
protected by a strong, affectionate relationship
within the family and by parents who show a keen
interest in their education.
Healthy Standards
• Parents, teachers and community leaders who lead by example and
hold clearly stated expectations regarding children and young
people’s behaviour are helping to protect them against risk.
• Parents can protect their children by encouraging them to make
healthy choices in life. Schools and staff who encourage all their
pupils to fulfill their potential – regardless of ability – and who set
clear rules and apply them consistently will also experience less
problem behaviour.
Summary of Key Factors
• Success in Education
• Boundaries
• Opportunities for
Involvement/Connection to
Community
• Building Social and Learning
Skills
• Recognition and Praise.
• Relationships with significant
other outside of Family
Thank you
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