Over the past fifty years, research on adolescents' behavior has focused primarily on risk factors. The study of resiliency and what buffers adolescents from engaging in harmful health behaviors has received much less attention. This risk-focused approach has included examining what is lacking in a youth's life that may contribute to that youth's tendency to engage in negative health behaviors. While this approach is useful for identifying any correlation between negative aspects of a youth's environment -- whether it be individual, family, school or community -- it only presents half of the picture of a intricate psychological and social environment in which a youth exists. It is difficult to explain why some children are at risk for negative health behaviors while other children successfully negotiate adolescence relatively unscathed. These differing outcomes raise questions about youth vulnerability and resiliency to life's stressors. An increased awareness of what makes adolescents vulnerable and the factors that protect adolescents from self-destructive behaviors has stimulated an interest in identifying protective factors, assets and strengths that diminish the chances of negative health outcomes for adolescents. As a result of this different focus, the study of resiliency has begun to gather momentum. A growing number of researchers and practitioners are beginning to emphasize the importance of asset-based programming to improve the well-being of our nation's youth.

The Emergence of Resiliency and Protective Factor Research

The concept of resiliency was first introduced into the adolescent health literature with a longitudinal research study by Emmy Werner that began in the 1950's, and ended in the 1980's. This study proposed that positive influences mitigate high-risk behaviors from childhood to adulthood. Children raised in poverty who were considered "at risk" for engaging in negative behaviors such as substance abuse or violence were found to be resilient to these negative outcomes when positive factors such as a caring adult or engaging in school were present in their lives. These protective factors were found to sustain children into adulthood.

In 1992, David Hawkins and Richard Catalano developed the Risk and Protective Factor Framework that outlined individual characteristics, family behavior and values, and bonding to school, as well as the values and norms of the community that can protect youth from negative outcomes. The value of examining adolescent health behaviors within the context of the risk and protective factors framework provides a comprehensive understanding of an adolescent's strengths and his or her ability to cope with risks.

More recent research, such as that by Bonnie Bernard, has furthered the concept that positive factors deter youth from engaging in negative health behaviors. The concept of resiliency focuses on the strengths or assets that exist within communities, schools, and families and on individual characteristics that buffer youth against negative health behaviors, such as high-risk sexual behavior and substance abuse. However, what makes a youth resilient to certain negative health behaviors is unique to that particular individual and the environment in which he or she lives.

Professionals who work with adolescents in targeting effective prevention interventions will appreciate the importance of identifying an adolescent's strengths and weaknesses. Table 1 presents a summary of 20 important factors that may protect adolescents from engaging in negative health behaviors.

Health Risk Behaviors and Adolescents

As a result of this growing body of prevention, resiliency, and risk reduction research, more professionals working with adolescents have begun to understand that adolescent health behaviors are most often made within a complex and interwoven personal and social context. More recent examination of the combinations of risk and protective factors in relation to adolescent health behaviors has borrowed heavily from psychology, social work and public health. Theorists such as Urie Bronfenbrenner have outlined a layering of individual, family, cultural and societal systems that influence a person's behaviors. The public health ecological approach presents that health outcomes stem from the interaction of multiple systems and factors. The strength-based approach emphasized in social work suggests that individuals function within their environment in accordance with the assets that they bring to a specific situation. The common thread that permeates these disciplines is the interaction of the individual with their family and social environment.