Risk and Protection: are Both Necessary to Understand Diverse Behavioral Outcomes in Adolescence?

This study explored relationships between self-reported exposure to a comprehensive set of risk & protective factors & outcomes, including substance use, school outcomes & delinquency, in a 5-state sample of 6th through 12th-grade students. The results indicate that prevention policies & programs should focus on the reduction of risk & the promotion of protective influences if reduction in substance use, crime, & violence among adolescents or the improvement in academics is the intended result.