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Risk and Protective Factors

The Community Alliance for a Safer Tomorrow (CAST) uses a risk and protective factor approach to reducing problem behaviors in youth.  Risk factors are those conditions that increase the likelihood that a child will develop one or more behavior problems during their developmental years.  These risk factors increase the risk of children in our community using drugs and alcohol. Protective factors are strengths in the community that buffer children and protect them from risks.  

CAST identifies risk and protective factors from the information received from the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), which is administered every two years to students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12.  Using the survey results, CAST focuses its efforts on decreasing the risk factors and increasing the protective factors.  

The risk factors we are currently working to decrease include: 

  • Depressive Symptoms (Young people who are depressed are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and are more likely to use substances.  Survey research and other studies have shown a link between depression and other youth problem behaviors).  
  • Low Commitment to School (Surveys of high school seniors have shown that the use of drugs is significantly lower among students who expect to attend college than those who do not.  Factors such as liking school, spending time on homework, and perceiving the coursework as relevant are also negatively related to drug use).   
  • Low Perceived Risk of Drug Use (Young people who do not perceive substance use to be risky are far more likely to engage in substance use).  
  • Peer/Individual Attitudes Favorable Towards Antisocial Behavior and Drug Use (During the elementary school years, most children express anti-drug, anti-crime, and pro-social attitudes and have difficulty imagining why people use drugs or engage in antisocial behaviors.  However, in middle school, as more youth are exposed to others who use drugs and engage in antisocial behavior, their attitudes often shift toward greater acceptance of these behaviors.  Youth who express positive attitudes towards substance use and antisocial behavior are more likely to engage in a variety of problem behaviors).  

The protective factors we are working to increase include: 

  • Community Rewards for Prosocial Involvement -(Rewards for positive participation in activities help youth bond to the community, thus lowering their risk for substance use).  
  • Family Rewards for Prosocial Involvement - (When parents, siblings, and other family members praise, encourage, and attend to things done well by youth, the youth are less likely to engage in substance use and problem behaviors).  
  • Belief in the Moral Order (Young people who have a belief in what is "right" or "wrong" are less likely to use substances).