JUVENILE RISK FACTORS

"The Comprehensive Strategy 19 Risk Factors," a study produced by the Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention program, is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information regarding the subject matter covered. The State of Florida Department of Juvenile Justice distributes this publication, and the Port Orange Police Department reproduces its content, with the understanding that neither agency is engaged in rendering legal advice. If such advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Extensive research has identified risk factors for crime and violence (Tolan and Guerra, 1994; Reiss and Roth, 1993; Dryfoos, 1990), and substance abuse (Kandel, Simcha-Fagan, and Davies, 1986; Hawkins, Catalano, and Miller, 1992). These risk factors exist within the communities in which children develop, as well as within families, schools, peer groups, and within each individual. Some risk factors can be reduced; others cannot. After identifying and setting priorities of risk factors that can be changed, communities can design prevention efforts to reduce known risk factors. However, it is equally important to know which risk factors cannot be modified, because this helps identify populations that should receive protective interventions. A summary of the risk factors and the problem behaviors they predict follow the table.

Community Risk Factors

Availability of drugs (substance abuse). The more easily available that drugs and alcohol are in a community, the greater the risk that drug abuse will occur in that community (Gorsuch and Butler, 1976). Perceived availability of drugs in school is also associated with increases risk (Gottfredson, 1988).

Availability of firearms (delinquency, violence). Firearms, primarily handguns, are the leading mechanism of violent injury and death in the United States (Fingerhut, Kleinman, Godfey, and Rosenberg, 1991). The easy availability of firearms in a community can escalate an exchange of angry words and fists into an exchange of gunfire. Research has found that communities with greater availability of firearms experience higher rates of violent crime, including homicide (Alexander, Massey, Gibbs, Alterkruse, 1985; Kellerman, Rivara, Rushforth, et al., in review; Winternute, 1987).

Community laws and norms favoring drug use, firearms, and crime (substance abuse, delinquency, and violence). Community norms - the attitudes and policies a community holds concerning drug use, violence, and crime - are communicated through laws, written policies, informal social practices, the media and the expectations that parents, teachers, and other members of the community have for young people. Laws, tax rates, and community standards that favor or are unclear about substance abuse or crime put young people at higher risk of delinquency.

One example of a law affecting drug use is the taxation of alcoholic beverages. Higher rates of taxation decrease the rate of alcohol use (Levy and Sheflin, 1985; Cook and Tauchen, 1982). Other examples of local rules and norms affecting drug and alcohol use are policies and regulations in schools and workplaces.

Media portrayal of violence (violence). There is growing evidence that media violence can influence community acceptance of violence and rates of violent or aggressive behavior. Both long- and short-term effects of media violence on aggressive behavior have been documented (Eron and Huesmann, 1987; National Research Council, 1993).

Transitions and mobility (substance abuse, delinquency, and school dropout). Even normal school transitions can predict increases in problem behaviors. When children move from elementary school to middle school or from middle school to high school, significant increases in the rates of drug use, school dropout, and antisocial behavior may occur (Gottfredson, 1988).

Communities with high rates of mobility appear to have increased drug and crime problems. The more frequently people in a community move, the greater the risk of criminal behavior (Farrington, 1991). Whereas some people find buffers against the negative effects of mobility by making connections in new communities, others are less likely to have the resources to deal with the effects of frequent moves and are more likely to have problems.

Low neighborhood attachment and community disorganization (substance abuse, delinquency, and violence). Higher rates of juvenile drug problems, crime, and delinquency, as well as higher rates of adult crime and drug trafficking, occur in neighborhoods where people have little attachment to the community, where the rates of vandalism are high, and where there is low surveillance of public places (Murray, 1983; Wilson and Hernstein, 1985).

Perhaps the most significant issue affecting community attachment is whether residents feel they can make a difference in their lives. If the neighborhood's key players - such as merchants, teachers, police, and human and social services personnel - live outside the neighborhood, residents' sense of commitment will be less. Lower rates of voter participation and parental involvement in school also reflect attitudes about community attachment. Neighborhood disorganization makes it more difficult for schools, churches, and families to pass on prosocial values and norms (Herting and Guest, 1985; Sampson, 1986).

Extreme economic and social deprivation (substance abuse, delinquency, violence, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout). Children who live in deteriorating neighborhoods characterized by extreme poverty, poor living conditions, and high unemployment are more likely to develop problems with delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout, and are more likely to engage in violence toward others during adolescence and adulthood (Bursik and Webb, 1982; Farrington, Lowber, Elliott, Hawkins, Kandel, Klein, McCord, Rowen, and Tremblay, 1990). Children who live in these neighborhoods and have behavior or adjustment problems early in life are also more likely to have drug abuse problems as they grow older (Robins and Ratcliff, 1979).

Family Risk Factors

Family history of high-risk behavior (substance abuse, delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout). Children raised in a family with a history of addiction to alcohol or other drugs are at increased risk of having alcohol or other drug problems (Goodwin, 1985), and children born or raised in a family with a history of criminal activity are at increased risk of delinquency (Bohman, 1978). Similarly, children born to a teenage mother are more likely to be teenage parents, and children of dropouts are more likely to drop out of school themselves (Slavin, 1990b).

Family management problems (substance abuse, delinquency, violence, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout). Poor family management practices are defined as not having clear expectations for behavior, failing to supervise and monitor children and excessively severe, harsh, or inconsistent punishment. Children exposed to these poor family management practices are at higher risk of developing all of the health and behavior problems listed above (Patterson and Dishion, 1985; Farrington, 1991; Kandel and Andrews, 1987; Peterson et al., 1994; Thornberry, 1994).

Family conflict (substance abuse, delinquency, violence, teen pregnancy, and school dropout). Although children whose parents are divorced have higher rates of delinquency and substance abuse, it appears that it is not the divorce itself that contributes to delinquency behavior. Rather, conflict between family members appears to be more important in predicting delinquency than family structure (Rutter and Giller, 1983). For example, domestic violence in a family increases the likelihood that young people will engage in violent behavior themselves (Loeber and Dishion, 1984). Children raised in a environment of conflict appear to be at risk for all of the problem behaviors that have been noted in this section.

Parental attitudes and involvement in problem behaviors (substance abuse, delinquency, and violence). Parental attitudes and behavior toward drugs and crime influence the attitudes and behavior of children (Brook et al., 1990; Kandel, Kessler, and Maguiles, 1978; Hansen, Graham, Shelton, Flay, and Johnson, 1987). Children who are excused for breaking the law are more likely to develop problems with juvenile delinquency (Hawkins and Weis, 1985) and children whose parents engage in violent behavior inside or outside the home are at greater risk for exhibiting violent behavior.

In families in which parents are heavy illegal drug or alcohol users or are tolerant of their children's use, children are more likely to become drug and alcohol abusers in adolescence. The risk is further increased if parents involve children in their drug- or alcohol-using behavior - for example, asking a child to light a cigarette or to get a beer from the refrigerator (Ahmed, Bush, Davidson, Ianotti, 1984).

School Risk Factors

Early and persistent antisocial behavior (substance abuse, delinquency, violence, teen pregnancy, and school dropout). Boys who are aggressive in grades K-3 or who have trouble controlling their impulses are at higher risk for substance abuse, delinquency, and violent behavior (Loeber, 1988; Lerner and Vicary, 1984; American Psychological Association, 1993). When a boy's aggressive behavior in the early grades is combined with isolation, withdrawal, or hyperactivity, there is an even greater risk of problems in adolescence (Kellam and Brown, 1982).

Academic failure beginning in late elementary school (substance abuse, delinquency, violence, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout). Beginning in the late elementary grades, academic failure increases the risk of drug abuse, delinquency, violence, teen pregnancy, and school dropout. Children fail for many reasons, but it appears that the experience of failure itself, not necessarily a lack of ability, increases the risk of problem behaviors (Jessor, 1976; Farrington, 1991).

Lack of commitment to school (substance abuse, delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout). Children who are not committed to school have ceased to see the role of student as a viable part of their lives and are at higher risk for problem behaviors. (Gottfredson, 1988; Johnston, 1991).

Individual and Peer Group Risk Factors

Rebelliousness (substance abuse, delinquency, and school dropout). Young people who feel they are not a part of society and not bound by its rules, who do not believe in trying to be successful or responsible, or who take an actively rebellious stance toward society are at higher risk of drug abuse, delinquency, and school dropout (Jessor and Jessor, 1977; Kandel, 1982; Bachman, Lloyd, and O'Malley, 1981).

Friends who engage in the problem behaviors (substance abuse, delinquency, violence, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout). Young people who associate with peers who engage in problem behaviors - delinquency, substance abuse, violent activity, sexual activity, or dropping out of school - are much more likely to engage in the same behaviors (Barnes and Welte, 1986; Farrington, 1991; Cairns, Cairns, Neckerman, Gest, and Gairepy, 1988; Elliott et al., 1989).

This association is one of the most consistent predictors that research has identified. Even when young people come from well-managed families and do not experience other risk factors, just spending time with friends who engage in problem behaviors greatly increases the risk of developing similar problems.

Favorable attitudes toward the problem behavior (substance abuse, delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout). During their elementary school years, children usually express anti-drug, anti-crime, and prosocial attitudes, and have difficulty imagining why people use drugs, commit crimes, or drop out of school. In middle school, however, their attitudes often shift toward greater acceptance of delinquency behaviors as others they know participate in such activities. This acceptance places them at higher risk (Kandel et al., 1978; Huesmann and Eron, 1986).

Early initiation of problem behaviors (substance abuse, delinquency, violence, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout). The earlier young people drop out of school, begin using drugs, commit crimes, and become sexually active, the greater the likelihood that they will have chronic problems with these behaviors later in life (Elliot et al., 1986). Research shows, for example, that young people who initiate drug use before the age of 15 are at twice the risk of have drug problems as those adolescents who wait until after the age of 19 (Robins and Przybeck, 1985).

Constitutional factors (substance abuse, delinquency, and violence). Constitutional factors that contribute to problem behaviors may have a biological or physiological basis (Hawkins and Lam, 1987). These factors are often seen in young people exhibiting such behaviors as sensation seeking, low harm-avoidance, and lack of impulse control. These factors appear to increase the risk of young people abusing drugs, engaging in delinquent behavior, and committing violent acts.