Protective Factors

Some youngsters who are exposed to multiple risk factors do not become substance abusers, juvenile delinquents, school dropouts, or teen parents. Balancing the risk factors are protective factors--aspects of people’s lives that counter or buffer risk. These factors in young people’s lives protect by either reducing the impact of the risks or by changing the way the youngster responds to the risks.

Research has identified protective factors that fall into three basic categories: individual characteristics, bonding, and healthy beliefs and clear standards. A child with strong protective factors is said to be "Resilient." Resiliency is a very promising area of prevention research.

"In most cases, resilient children have ‘clusters’ of protective factors, not just one or two. But the sine qua non, according Werner, is a ‘basic, trusting relationship’ with an adult. In all the clusters in the Kauai study, ‘there is not one that didn’t include that one good relationship, whether with a parent, grandparent, older sibling, teacher or mentor - someone consistent enough in that person’s life to say, ‘You count,’ and that sort of begins to radiate other support in their lives.’" (The Miracle of Resiliency, Newsweek Special Edition, Summer 1991)

One of the most important protective factors is good Parenting.Other effective protective factors include Community Collaboration and Peer Helping.

Bonnie Benard, through the Western Regional for Drug Free Schools and Communities Far West Laboratory for Educational R & D, offers a very compelling article regarding protective factors entitled "Prevention Should Emphasize Protective Factors."

"The quest to identify protective factors has produced an eager burst of studies in the past 10 or 15 years, with new publications tumbling off the presses every month. Although the studies so far offer no startling insights, they are providing fresh perspectives on how nature and nurture intertwine in childhood development. (The Miracle of Resiliency, Newsweek Special Edition, Summer 1991)

"One of the prime protective factors, for example, is a matter of genetic luck of the draw: a child born with an easygoing disposition invariably handles stress better than one with a nervous, over-reactive temperament. But even highly reactive children can acquire resilience if they have a consistent, stabilizing element in their young lives - something like an attentive parent or mentor.(The Miracle of Resiliency, Newsweek Special Edition, Summer 1991)

"In one five-year long study, primate researcher Stephen Suomi has shown that by putting infant monkeys in the care of supportive mothers, he could virtually turn their lives around. ...comparing ‘vulnerable’ and ‘invulnerable’ monkeys to see if there are useful nurturing approaches to be learned. Differences of temperament can be spotted in monkeys before they’re a week old. Like their human counterparts, vulnerable monkey infants show measurable increases in heart rate and stress-hormone production in response to threat situations. ‘You see a fairly consistent pattern of physiological arousal, and also major behavioral differences,’ says Suomi. Parallel patterns have been found in human-developmental labs, so we feel we’re looking at the same phenomena.’ Left alone in a regular troop, these high strung infants grow up to be marginal figures in their troops. But by putting them in the care of particularly loving, attentive foster mothers within their first four days of life, Suomi turns the timid monkeys into social lions. Within two months they become bold and outgoing. Males in the species Suomi has been working with normally leave their native troop at puberty and eventually work their way into a new troop. The nervous, vulnerable individuals usually are the last to leave home. But after being ‘cross-fostered’ to loving mothers, they develop enough confidence so that they’re first to leave." ...In the long run, the vulnerable infants not only were turned around to normality, they often rose to the top of their hierarchies; they became community leaders." (The Miracle of Resiliency, Newsweek Special Edition, Summer 1991)

"‘The implications are that vulnerable children, if placed in the right social environment, might become extraordinarily productive and competent adult individuals,’ he says."(The Miracle of Resiliency, Newsweek Special Edition, Summer 1991)

"Recognizing the valuable role mentors can play, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America this month launched a mentoring campaign comprised of :30 and :60 TV spots: ‘My Reward,’ (from NYC’s Chirsty MacDougall Mitchell) and ‘If-Boy and "If Girl,’ (from J. Walter Thompson/NY). New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani helped launch the mentoring campaign at a press briefing with Partnership for a Drug-Free Greater New York, the New York Volunteer for Youth Campaign and members of the New York media." (PDFA, Mayor Giuliani Launch Mentoring Campaign, Partnership Bulletin, March, 1998)

"Children who are attached to positive families, friends, school, and community, and who are committed to achieving the goals valued by these groups are less likely to develop problems in adolescence."

"Children must be provided with opportunities to contribute to their community, family, peers, and school. The challenge is to provide children with meaningful opportunities that help them feel responsible and significant."