Contemporary Models of Youth Development and Problem Prevention: Toward
an Integration of Terms, Concepts and Models
- Small & Memmo, 2004
There has been a growth in models of youth development. Contemporary models can generally be
grouped in three types: prevention, resiliency and positive youth development.
Aim article: Provide an overview of these approaches and discuss how they can be better integrated
Clarification of key concepts
Risk and protective factors serve as probability markers or social address indicators. Risk and
protective processes seek to describe specific causal paths or mechanisms to explain the reason for
increased risk or protection.
Risk factor – individual or environmental markers that are related to an increased likelihood that a
negative outcome will occur.
Protective factor - individual or environmental safeguards that enhance a person’s ability to resist
stressful life events, risks or hazards and promote adaptation and competence.
Only operates when a risk factor is present. Although protective factors serve to decrease an
individual’s vulnerability to risk, they do not necessarily enhance a person’s potential in other areas.
Risk and protective factors thus serve as probability markers for the likelihood of a problem occurring.
Consequently, they are more useful in predicting outcomes for populations than for individuals.
Risk and protective factors: Where to target intervention
Processes or mechanisms: What might be done to alter the situation
Developmental assets – responsible for enhancing and promoting outcomes hat are indicative of
competence among youth. Assets are the building blocks that are crucial for promoting healthy youth
development and well-being.
A lack of assets is directly related to a person’s failure to thrive, but only indirectly related to problem
behaviours. It is the presence of risk, rather than a lack of assets, that likely leads to problem
behaviours.
Therefore, while a youth with many assets may thrive developmentally, he or she may still exhibit
problems if risk processes are present.
Finally, it is important to recognize that social, cultural and historical forces play a large role in any
evaluation of outcomes as positive or negative.
Prevention approach
Primary, secondary & tertiary prevention vs. universal, selected & indicated prevention.
The two key strategies are to reduce or eliminate risk factors and increase or promote protective
factors. In addition, it may involve enhancing the strengths, skills or competencies of the target group
so they are better able to cope with the stress or challenge that may result in future problems.
Prevention is viewed within an ecological framework – Risk and protective factors can exist both
within individuals and across the various settings in which they live.
Efforts to prevent youth problems must account for and target these multiple settings
,Most problems are multiply determined – there may be diverse paths to the development of a particular
problem and efforts to address a single cause are likely to fail because most problems have multiple
causes.
Risk factors often co-occur and can cause exponential risks. Explanations:
- When more risks are present, the more likely it is that an individual will be exposed to causal
processes to which they are vulnerable
- As an accumulation of risk factors reaches a certain threshold, individuals are overwhelmed
and unable to cope with the accumulated stress.
Strengths, weaknesses and elaborations of the prevention approach
Strengths:
- Intuitive, logical framework and language for conceptualizing and addressing youth problems.
- Substantial research has emerged that has identified numerous risk and protective factors
related to common youth problems.
Limitations:
- Deficit-oriented, emphasizing youth problems
Can be problematic because of the potential to stigmatize youth
- It usually gives little attention to how to promote normative youth development
- Limited attention given to the relative importance of various risk and protective factors
The more proximal the process or influence is to the individual, the more powerful the
effect.
- Little recognition that a hypothesized risk or protective mechanism may not apply equally to
all persons within a population
Resilience approaches
Aim: To identify and understand those factors that distinguish individuals who demonstrate good
adaptation when confronted with adversity from those who emerge with problem behaviours.
Difference coping and resilience:
- Coping: places more emphasis on identifying the specific cognitive and behavioural efforts
individuals employ to manage a stressful situation.
- Resilience: place greater emphasis on identifying stable characteristics in the child or
environment that serve to either aid an individual in weathering stressful situations or to
permit the recovery or adaptation after a period of disorganization.
Recently resilience approaches have started to include a broader focus on social institutions that foster
development, such as the family and community.
Strengths, weaknesses and elaborations of the resilience approach
, Weaknesses:
- Lack of consistency in definition and the implications drawn from the various ways it is used.
The concept of resilience can be broadly applied to anyone experiencing normative
developmental stress.
- A resilience approach can result in a tendency to disregard environmental conditions.
Can place a burden on the individual and potential to blame the victim. Additionally, an
overemphasis on making the individual more resistant can divert attention from efforts to
reduce the effects of contextual risk over which practitioners and policy makers may exert
more influence.
- Concern whether resilience is best conceptualized as a phenomenon that is robust across
developmental domains or one that is more domain-specific
The processes that foster resilience are likely to reside in the social context and the
individual, which makes it likely to vary by context.
Resilience results from a combination of at least four distinctive processes:
- Resilience may result from the successful operation of protective processes.
Protective processes operate to eliminate risk before damage is done and serve to buffer an
individual from the impact of a stressor. Often conceptualized outside the control of
individual, they can operate without individual knowing of being involved. However, for
resilience to be manifested, the protective processes must occur in conjunction with other
processes that bolster assets or promote asset building.
- Resilience may occur as a result of certain exceptional personal characteristics
Capacity to intervene is sometimes limited. However, knowledge of how such characteristics
operate can be used to develop strategies that complement them or compensate for their
absence.
- Resilience also may be achieved by successfully recovering from a stressful situation or crisis
event
- Resilience may occur through the process of steeling
Steeling occurs when individuals overcome challenging experiences that strengthen their
capacity to withstand subsequent stressful situations.
Positive Youth Development approaches
A unifying philosophy characterized by a
positive, asset-building orientation that
builds on strengths rather than
categorizing youth according to their
deficits.
Based on the following assumptions:
Strengths:
an Integration of Terms, Concepts and Models
- Small & Memmo, 2004
There has been a growth in models of youth development. Contemporary models can generally be
grouped in three types: prevention, resiliency and positive youth development.
Aim article: Provide an overview of these approaches and discuss how they can be better integrated
Clarification of key concepts
Risk and protective factors serve as probability markers or social address indicators. Risk and
protective processes seek to describe specific causal paths or mechanisms to explain the reason for
increased risk or protection.
Risk factor – individual or environmental markers that are related to an increased likelihood that a
negative outcome will occur.
Protective factor - individual or environmental safeguards that enhance a person’s ability to resist
stressful life events, risks or hazards and promote adaptation and competence.
Only operates when a risk factor is present. Although protective factors serve to decrease an
individual’s vulnerability to risk, they do not necessarily enhance a person’s potential in other areas.
Risk and protective factors thus serve as probability markers for the likelihood of a problem occurring.
Consequently, they are more useful in predicting outcomes for populations than for individuals.
Risk and protective factors: Where to target intervention
Processes or mechanisms: What might be done to alter the situation
Developmental assets – responsible for enhancing and promoting outcomes hat are indicative of
competence among youth. Assets are the building blocks that are crucial for promoting healthy youth
development and well-being.
A lack of assets is directly related to a person’s failure to thrive, but only indirectly related to problem
behaviours. It is the presence of risk, rather than a lack of assets, that likely leads to problem
behaviours.
Therefore, while a youth with many assets may thrive developmentally, he or she may still exhibit
problems if risk processes are present.
Finally, it is important to recognize that social, cultural and historical forces play a large role in any
evaluation of outcomes as positive or negative.
Prevention approach
Primary, secondary & tertiary prevention vs. universal, selected & indicated prevention.
The two key strategies are to reduce or eliminate risk factors and increase or promote protective
factors. In addition, it may involve enhancing the strengths, skills or competencies of the target group
so they are better able to cope with the stress or challenge that may result in future problems.
Prevention is viewed within an ecological framework – Risk and protective factors can exist both
within individuals and across the various settings in which they live.
Efforts to prevent youth problems must account for and target these multiple settings
,Most problems are multiply determined – there may be diverse paths to the development of a particular
problem and efforts to address a single cause are likely to fail because most problems have multiple
causes.
Risk factors often co-occur and can cause exponential risks. Explanations:
- When more risks are present, the more likely it is that an individual will be exposed to causal
processes to which they are vulnerable
- As an accumulation of risk factors reaches a certain threshold, individuals are overwhelmed
and unable to cope with the accumulated stress.
Strengths, weaknesses and elaborations of the prevention approach
Strengths:
- Intuitive, logical framework and language for conceptualizing and addressing youth problems.
- Substantial research has emerged that has identified numerous risk and protective factors
related to common youth problems.
Limitations:
- Deficit-oriented, emphasizing youth problems
Can be problematic because of the potential to stigmatize youth
- It usually gives little attention to how to promote normative youth development
- Limited attention given to the relative importance of various risk and protective factors
The more proximal the process or influence is to the individual, the more powerful the
effect.
- Little recognition that a hypothesized risk or protective mechanism may not apply equally to
all persons within a population
Resilience approaches
Aim: To identify and understand those factors that distinguish individuals who demonstrate good
adaptation when confronted with adversity from those who emerge with problem behaviours.
Difference coping and resilience:
- Coping: places more emphasis on identifying the specific cognitive and behavioural efforts
individuals employ to manage a stressful situation.
- Resilience: place greater emphasis on identifying stable characteristics in the child or
environment that serve to either aid an individual in weathering stressful situations or to
permit the recovery or adaptation after a period of disorganization.
Recently resilience approaches have started to include a broader focus on social institutions that foster
development, such as the family and community.
Strengths, weaknesses and elaborations of the resilience approach
, Weaknesses:
- Lack of consistency in definition and the implications drawn from the various ways it is used.
The concept of resilience can be broadly applied to anyone experiencing normative
developmental stress.
- A resilience approach can result in a tendency to disregard environmental conditions.
Can place a burden on the individual and potential to blame the victim. Additionally, an
overemphasis on making the individual more resistant can divert attention from efforts to
reduce the effects of contextual risk over which practitioners and policy makers may exert
more influence.
- Concern whether resilience is best conceptualized as a phenomenon that is robust across
developmental domains or one that is more domain-specific
The processes that foster resilience are likely to reside in the social context and the
individual, which makes it likely to vary by context.
Resilience results from a combination of at least four distinctive processes:
- Resilience may result from the successful operation of protective processes.
Protective processes operate to eliminate risk before damage is done and serve to buffer an
individual from the impact of a stressor. Often conceptualized outside the control of
individual, they can operate without individual knowing of being involved. However, for
resilience to be manifested, the protective processes must occur in conjunction with other
processes that bolster assets or promote asset building.
- Resilience may occur as a result of certain exceptional personal characteristics
Capacity to intervene is sometimes limited. However, knowledge of how such characteristics
operate can be used to develop strategies that complement them or compensate for their
absence.
- Resilience also may be achieved by successfully recovering from a stressful situation or crisis
event
- Resilience may occur through the process of steeling
Steeling occurs when individuals overcome challenging experiences that strengthen their
capacity to withstand subsequent stressful situations.
Positive Youth Development approaches
A unifying philosophy characterized by a
positive, asset-building orientation that
builds on strengths rather than
categorizing youth according to their
deficits.
Based on the following assumptions:
Strengths:
