Journal Article•
Protective factors, resiliency and healthy youth development.
TL;DR: Critical to the ongoing advancement of adolescent health is a powerful, evidence-based response to the argument that "nothing can be done" for high-risk youth, and that the dual approach of risk reduction and enhancement of protective factors constitutes an effective strategy for adolescent health promotion.
Abstract: The last decade has been characterized by an increasing focus on the question: "What works to promote and protect the health and well-being of adolescents?" This question is raised in multiple arenas, from pregnancy prevention to substance use and violence prevention, as well as for broad populations of young people. An accumulating body of evidence underscores the effectiveness of a dual strategy of enhancing protective factors and promoting healthy youth development while seeking to reduce risk factors in the lives of youth. Building upon research frameworks of the 1970s and 1980s that emphasized the concepts of resiliency, risk, vulnerability, and protective factors, this research provides insights into best practices when the weight of evidence is sufficiently developed, as well as ideas about "best bets" when strategies show particular promise. Critical to the ongoing advancement of adolescent health is a powerful, evidence-based response to the argument that "nothing can be done" for high-risk youth. This perspective must be superseded by practitioners, researchers, and advocates who demonstrate, at multiple points of intervention, that the dual approach of risk reduction and enhancement of protective factors constitutes an effective strategy for adolescent health promotion.
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TL;DR: Overall, young people's experiences of early secondary school and their relationships with others may continue to affect their moods, their substance use in later years, and their likelihood of completing secondary school.
880 citations
Cites background or result from "Protective factors, resiliency and ..."
...These findings provide suport for findings from previous cross-sectional studies exmining the risk and protective factors for mental health and ubstance use [2,3,34]....
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...013 long with connectedness to family, connectedness to chool during adolescence has emerged as a key area for uilding protective factors for positive educational outomes and lower rates of health-risk behaviors [1–5]....
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...[2] Resnick MD....
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...While the contemporaneous associations between these actors and mental health have been established [2,3,7] less s known about the associations between social connectedess and school connectedness in early adolescence and motional well being in later adolescence, nor has the nature f the relationship between school and social connectedness een examined....
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TL;DR: In these national samples of black, Hispanic, and white youth, unique and cross-cutting factors derived from a resiliency framework predicted or protected against attempting suicide.
Abstract: Objective. In 1997, suicide was the third leading cause of death among 10- to 19-year-olds in the United States, with the greatest increases in suicide rates in the previous decade experienced by black and other minority youth. The purpose of this study was to identify risk and protective factors for suicide attempts among black, Hispanic, and white male and female adolescents. Methods. We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, conducted in 1995 and 1996. A nationally representative sample of 13 110 students in grades 7 through 12 completed 2 in-home interviews, an average of 11 months apart. We examined Time 1 factors at the individual, family, and community level that predicted or protected against Time 2 suicide attempts. Results. Perceived parent and family connectedness was protective against suicide attempts for black, Hispanic, and white girls and boys, with odds ratios ranging from 0.06 to 0.32. For girls, emotional well-being was also protective for all of the racial/ethnic groups studied, while a high grade point average was an additional protective factor for all of the boys. Cross-cutting risk factors included previous suicide attempt, violence victimization, violence perpetration, alcohol use, marijuana use, and school problems. Additionally, somatic symptoms, friend suicide attempt or completion, other illicit drug use, and a history of mental health treatment predicted suicide attempts among black, Hispanic, and white females. Weapon-carrying at school and same-sex romantic attraction were predictive for all groups of boys. Calculating the estimated probabilities of attempting suicide for adolescents with increasing numbers of risk and protective factors revealed that the presence of 3 protective factors reduced the risk of a suicide attempt by 70% to 85% for each of the gender and racial/ethnic groups, including those with and without identified risk factors. Conclusions. In these national samples of black, Hispanic, and white youth, unique and cross-cutting factors derived from a resiliency framework predicted or protected against attempting suicide. In addition to risk reduction, promotion of protective factors may offer an effective approach to primary as well as secondary prevention of adolescent suicidal behavior.
756 citations
TL;DR: Although progress has been made since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, adolescents continue to be disproportionately burdened by threats to their sexual and reproductive health.
737 citations
TL;DR: Findings support the utility of a dual strategy of reducing risk factors while enhancing protective factors in the lives of adolescents.
484 citations
TL;DR: Current trends and issues related to adolescent pregnancy are reviewed, update practitioners on this topic, and review legal and policy implications of concern to pediatricians are reviewed.
Abstract: The prevention of unintended adolescent pregnancy is an important goal of the American Academy of Pediatrics and our society. Although adolescent pregnancy and birth rates have been steadily decreasing, many adolescents still become pregnant. Since the last statement on adolescent pregnancy was issued by the Academy in 1998, efforts to prevent adolescent pregnancy have increased, and new observations, technologies, and prevention effectiveness data have emerged. The purpose of this clinical report is to review current trends and issues related to adolescent pregnancy, update practitioners on this topic, and review legal and policy implications of concern to pediatricians.
482 citations