Abstract
The relation of psychosocial protective factors to involvement in problem behavior—alcohol and drug use, delinquency, and sexual precocity—was investigated in a longitudinal study of 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-grade adolescents in a large, urban school district. Protective factors were drawn from the personality, the perceived environment, and the behavior systems of Problem Behavior Theory. The findings show a significant inverse relation between protection and problem behavior involvement. There is a significant interaction between protection and risk in the prediction of problem behavior: Protection is shown to moderate the relation of risk to problem behavior. Protective factors are also significant predictors of change in adolescent problem behavior over time. Direct effects of protection are consistent across all gender and racial/ethnic subgroups; moderator effects are evident for female, White, and Hispanic subgroups only.
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Jessor, R., Van Den Bos, J., Vanderryn, J., Costa, F. M., & Turbin, M. S. (1995). Protective factors in adolescent problem behavior: Moderator effects and developmental change. Developmental Psychology, 31(6), 923–933.
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Notes
- 1.
Mean scores are 4.40 for the problem drinking measure, 16.27 for delinquent-type behavior, 1.68 for marijuana involvement, and 1.22 for sexual intercourse experience. Intercorrelations among these measures are as follows: problem drinking correlates .50, .59, and .34 with delinquent-type behavior, marijuana involvement, and sexual intercourse experience, respectively; delinquent-type behavior correlates .51 and .28 with marijuana involvement and sexual intercourse experience, respectively; and the latter two measures correlate .34. All correlations are significant at < .001.
- 2.
In the Wave-1 data, eight outlying high scores on the MPBI were recoded to approximately three standard deviations above the mean, thereby ensuring a less skewed distribution for the analyses presented in this article.
- 3.
Five demographic variables are included in all these analyses as control measures: gender, two indicators of race/ethnicity, an index of socioeconomic status, and cohort. The first ethnicity variable contrasts Whites with Hispanics and Blacks, and the second ethnicity variable contrasts Hispanics with Blacks. The SES index is a three-item measure combining participant’s reports of mother’s and father’s educational attainment and father’s occupation (α = .82). If any of the components of this measure were missing, the remaining information was used alone. Cohort refers to Wave-1 grade in school: Grade 7, 8, or 9.
- 4.
The Wave-2, -3, and -4 MPBI measures were constructed similarly to the Wave-1 (1989) MPBI. In each wave, there were eight outlier scores recoded to approximately three standard deviations above the mean. Alpha reliability is .74, .74, and .73 for the Wave-2, -3, and -4 MPBI, respectively. The Pearson correlation of the Wave-1 MPBI with the Wave-2, -3, and -4 MPBI is .67, .57, and .50, respectively.
- 5.
These analyses were replicated with a three-item MPBI , dropping the sexual experience item because it permits change in only one direction. The outcome for all three follow-up waves is essentially identical to the findings for the four-item MPBI used here.
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Acknowledgments
This study is a report from the research project supported by Grant 91-1194-88 from the William T. Grant Foundation, R. Jessor, principal investigator. Support from the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Adolescent Development Among Youth in High-Risk Settings is gratefully acknowledged. We are grateful to the officials of the school district involved for their gracious and extended cooperation. The contributions of John Donovan to this report are appreciated. The article has benefited particularly from the comments and suggestions of Gary H. McClelland and Arnold J. Sameroff.
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Jessor, R., Van Den Bos, J., Vanderryn, J., Costa, F.M., Turbin, M.S. (2016). Problem Behavior Theory and the Dynamics of Protection and Risk. In: The Origins and Development of Problem Behavior Theory. Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40886-6_9
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