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Promotive and Risk Factors for Positive Youth Development Among Emerging Adults in Brazil

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Abstract

Background

The dynamics between risk and promotive factors within ecological contexts of development in emerging adulthood may influence the self-concepts and involvement in problem behaviors of young individuals.

Objective

To investigate associations of risk (exposure to domestic and community violence; prejudice) and promotive factors (family, college, and community connectedness) with self-concepts (self-esteem, self-efficacy) and problem behaviors (licit drug use, sex risk behavior, and antisocial behavior).

Methods

A total of 547 socioeconomically diverse emerging adults from a Brazilian urban context (64% female) aged 18–29 years filled in the Brazilian Youth Questionnaire (Dell’Aglio et al. 2011) as part of a national investigation developed by the group “Youth and Resilience” of the National Association of Post-Graduation in Psychology.

Results

Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that family connectedness was associated with increased self-esteem, and college connectedness with self-esteem and self-efficacy, whereas community connectedness was associated with decreased levels of antisocial behavior.

Conclusion

A combination of programs and policies that engage schools, families and communities are the most promising to yield long-term beneficial effects in interventions towards positive development of emerging adults in Brazil.

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Notes

  1. Interquartile Range.

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Acknowledgement

We gratefully thank Julien Chopin for his support and encouragement throughout this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Bahia, Bahia, Brazil

    Luciana Dutra-Thomé

  2. Tiradentes University, Aracaju, Brazil

    Diogo DeSousa

  3. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Silvia Helena Koller

Authors
  1. Luciana Dutra-Thomé
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  2. Diogo DeSousa
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  3. Silvia Helena Koller
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Correspondence to Luciana Dutra-Thomé.

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Ethical Statements

The Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Protocol No. 2011014) and the institutions where the data collection took place approved the investigation. All participants signed a Consent Form (following resolutions No. 196/1996 and No. 446/2012 of the National Health Council and No. 016/2000 of the Brazilian Federal Council of Psychology).

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Dutra-Thomé, L., DeSousa, D. & Koller, S.H. Promotive and Risk Factors for Positive Youth Development Among Emerging Adults in Brazil. Child Youth Care Forum 48, 171–185 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-018-9475-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-018-9475-9

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