Positive Behaviors, Problem Behaviors, and Resiliency in Adolescence

Abstract

This chapter examines risk and protective factors within adolescents and their environments and the manifestation of those factors in terms of risk behaviors or resiliency. A detailed exploration of four major risk behaviors in adolescents (i.e., teenage sexual activity, alcohol and/or substance use/abuse, delinquency and antisocial behavior, and school failure) is presented along with the risk factors found to be associated with them. Evidence is presented with regard to the co‐morbidity of those risk behaviors and risk factors. Understanding risk behaviors forms a foundation to understand the influence of risk behaviors on the developmental trajectory of young people. Moreover, specific attention to major risk behaviors also offers a basis for understanding the importance of multiple ecological influences, multiple constitutional influences, and the interactions that occur between them. The chapter then investigates the beginning of resiliency research and follows the field's development through to its current status and theoretical understanding of resiliency. Empirical findings related to protective factors and their interaction with risk factors are also presented. These interactions are critical to the overall development of adolescents, both in positive and negative directions. Understanding why so many are able to overcome adversity provides us with some direction in intervention efforts.

Protective effect of supportive family relationships and the influence of stressful life events on adolescent adjustment

“…There are also abundant empirical evidences regarding the influence of parenting on adolescent behavioral problems (Perkins & Borden, 2003), although the studies that employ a prospective methodology, as in our case, are more scarce (Steinberg, 2001). Only one gender difference was significant (a higher incidence of internalizing symptoms in girls).…”

Positive Youth Development, Participation in Community Youth Development Programs, and Community Contributions of Fifth-Grade Adolescents

“…The literature shows that one may expect low levels of risk among youth of this grade level (e.g., Dryfoos, 1990;Perkins & Borden, 2003).…”

“…Of course, the location of these central tendencies in our data may reflect the oft-reported positive bias in dependent variables associated with people agreeing to participate in a longitudinal study (e.g., Baltes, Reese, & Nesselroade, 1977;Schaie & Strother, 1968) and/or the fact America's contemporary cohorts of young people exist in a far more positive state than prior deficit-based accounts of today's youth would predict (cf. Benson, 2003).The viability of these two, non-mutually exclusive interpretations may be better ascertained as the 4-H Study continues its waves of data collection and participants enter the higher risk years of middle and late adolescence (Dryfoos, 1990;Perkins & Borden, 2003) and, in addition, are compared to retest control participants. In any event, we regarded the evidence we found for the psychometric quality of the present set of measures and the magnitude of the comparable behavior of the measures across demographic categories within the sample supportive of the use of these assessment tools in the analyses we conducted to address the three key issues addressed in this report.…”

Positive Development in Adolescence: The Development and Role of Intentional Self-Regulation

“…Accordingly, when intentional self-regulation is adaptive, people foster their personal development and well-being [Freund & Baltes, 2002]. Indeed, the relationship between adaptive self-regulation and developmental outcomes has been documented across the lifespan [Caspi et al, 1995;Eisenberg et al, 1994;Freund, Li, & Baltes, 1999;Garmezy & Rutter, 1988;Mischel, Shoda, & Peake, 1988;Perkins & Borden, 2003;Raffaelli & Crockett, 2003;Raffaelli, Crockett, & Shen, 2005].…”