You need to read this section on Risk & Protection in the correct order:
- Introduction
- Individual < You are here
- Community
- Family
- Peer and school factors
- Responding from a risk and protection framework
Individual risk factors
Researchers have consistently found there to be a number of individual factors that make it more or less likely that a young person will experience adverse outcomes. The most common of these are listed below.
• = This risk factor makes it more likely for this adverse outcome to occur
Adverse outcomes |
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| Risk Factors | Substance Abuse |
Mental Health Problems |
Crime / Delin- |
Rebelliousness |
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Early initiation of drug use |
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Impulsiveness |
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Antisocial behaviour |
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Attitudes favourable towards drug use |
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Interactions with antisocial peers |
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Friends' use of drugs |
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Sensation seeking |
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Low self esteem |
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High external locus of control |
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High levels of hopelessness |
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High levels of neuroticism |
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Social inadequacy |
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Borderline personality disorder |
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Antisocial personality disorder |
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Questioning sexuality |
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Prior suicide attempts |
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Stressful life events |
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Prematurity |
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Poor health in infancy |
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Insecure attachment |
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Low intelligence |
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Difficult temperament |
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Poor social skills |
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Alienation |
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Individual protective factors
• = This protective factor makes it less likely for this adverse outcome to occur
Adverse outcomes |
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Protective Factors |
Substance Abuse |
Mental Health Problems |
Crime / Delin- |
Religiosity |
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Social skills and competence |
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Conflict resolution and negotiation skills |
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Belief in moral values |
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Easy temperament |
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Capacity for humour and empathy |
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Adequate nutrition |
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Having an interest / hobby |
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Above average intelligence |
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Optimism |
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internal locus of control |
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Good coping style |
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Positive attachments |
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Activity
We are now going to introduce three young people, Tung, Sally and Mike. As we move along we will give you more information about them and their lives, so that you can better explore how the risk and protective factors play out in their lives respectively.
Please choose one of these young people and use them for the unfolding learning activities in this section on Risk and Protection. You do not have to complete a seperate activity for each young person.
In this first activity we want you identify the individual risk and protective factors for the young person you have chosen to work on.
Tung
Tung is 17 years old and he is born of parents who are Laotian / Cambodian. He is currently in Year 12 at school. He tends to do well at school, everyone says he is really intelligent.
He is quite good at skateboarding and spends much of his spare time with his skateboarding friends. Most of these friends don't attend school because they don't want to want to. They prefer to hang around the shops skateboarding or drinking and smoking cannabis; lately they have started drinking and smoking more and skating less. Tung likes the feeling of being stoned and the taste of the alcohol, but it annoys him when he's too intoxicated to skate properly. He's not worried about it as he only drinks and smokes with these friends. He got in trouble with friends the other day for skating in a shopping centre with his mates and had a fight with a security guard.
Tung's family are Buddhist and they go to worship on a regular basis. Tung doesn't mind this (even though he cops some flack from his non-Buddhist friends). At the temple he gets to spend time with other young people who better understand the problems he faces with his parents.
Sally
Sally is 15 years old and she is currently living in a medium term housing agency. She has been there about 12 months. She likes the place; the accommodation is comfortable, the workers are friendly, the food is nice and the other residents there are pretty stable. However, Sally finds it quite difficult talking to the others in the house as she's not really sure about how to talk to them, she feels really awkward, especially around the boys.
Sally started smoking cannabis when she was about 12½ years old. At the time she was living in a group home for young people 'under the care of the Minister'. Sally has made three previous suicide attempts. When asked why she did it she said she thinks it is because she felt that life was hopeless and there was nothing she could do to improve the situation in which she found herself.
Sally would like to get back into school. She is keen to learn to read and write, but she has always found it hard staying at school. She finds subjects like mathematics too difficult. One thing that Sally is really proud of is that she has never been involved in committing any crime. She doesn't like to think of others having to go without, like she has had to in the past. Sally loves her dog, Rosie, the refuge bought it for her birthday 6 months ago. She walks it daily and baths it weekly. Sally thinks that one day she'd like to be a vet or work in the zoo.
Mike
Mike is 16 years old, and he is currently in a juvenile detention centre for stealing motor vehicles. He is on a control order for three months, which he is to complete in the next week. This is his second time in "lock-up", the last time was for assault. Mike punched another young man repeatedly. He tells everyone that "he just felt like it", when in reality it was due to a sexual encounter with this young man that Mike did not want disclosed.
Mike doesn't mind it in detention as he finds he can get what he wants easily enough. Mike has always been able to "talk people around" to see his point of view. His mum always said "He's had the gift of the gab" and that "he's always able to make people laugh", not that she talks to him much anymore.
Mike is nervous about being out of detention as he hasn't used (heroin) the whole time he's been in the facility and truthfully doesn't want to go back to it. He also doesn't like being out as the freedom feels quite alien to him. He is a bit of a loner as others are often scared of him.
Tung/Sally/Mike
For the young person you have chosen, complete the section below using the tables above so that you continue to add to it as the young person's life unfolds.
Individual Risk Factors:
Individual Protective Factors:
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Working with Young People with Alcohol or Other Drug Issues: A self-paced learning package Published: 2006 Funded by NSW Drug & Alcohol Workforce Development Council. Written & compiled by Kristy Delaney, YAPA, and Matt Stubbs & John Howard, Ted Noffs Institute. Additional material by Nick Manning, YAPA, & by Shopfront Youth Legal Centre. Opinions are the author's.
Be careful! YAPA and the authors took reasonable care to ensure that this information was correct at the time of publishing. However health information, and government regulations, laws and standards are complex and changing. The authors may not have health, safety, or legal qualifications, and information provided is general - it is not specific health, legal or professional advice. Do not rely on it - check with other publications and authorities and if necessary get qualified, medical, legal or professional advice for your situation.
