Take Action in Secondary Schools

SECTION II:
Understanding Substance Use and Abuse in the School Community

Healthy Living: Risk Factors and Protective Factors

It is difficult to understand and predict why some individuals are more prone to using substances or to developing addiction problems while others are not.

Why did Robert get involved in drug use while his classmate Spencer did not? Was Robert at greater risk because of his family, or because of his personality? Could the school have helped prevent his eventual drop out? All good questions…but what are the answers?

Over the last twenty years or so, research has tried to determine how substance use begins and how it progresses. A simple question, which unfortunately needs a slightly more complicated answer. Understanding influences on substance use requires looking at several systems in a person’s life, including the individual and his/her family, their community and society as a whole. We need to assess the risk and protective factors in each layer. Simply stated, risk factors increase an individual’s likelihood of substance use and abuse, while protective factors reduce the risk.

It is important to emphasize that when looking at the previous diagram or when assessing a student’s situation, the risk factors do not necessarily cause substance use and abuse, but rather they put the person more at risk for developing such a problem. Conversely, if many protective factors are present, then behaviours like substance abuse are less likely under these conditions.

Individual:

In looking at the individual, risk factors might include: early age of first use, low self-esteem, social skill deficit and genetic factors. Whereas protective factors could include: personal and social competence, optimism about the future, good problem-solving skills and involvement in pro-social activities. Obviously not an exhaustive list, but it does begin to paint the picture that a person may have many risk factors and still not have substance abuse problems due to protective factors in their life.

One other key element for an individual is resilience. Resilience is the ability to cope with adversity in spite of a situation that one might not be able to change (e.g., living with an alcoholic parent). Some children are able to survive impossible odds and thrive, their individual strengths and assets are dynamic and they adapt and go on to develop in positive ways.

The foundations are laid in early childhood for later competence and resilience. For example, parents who are warm, but structured with consistent rules and high expectations for behaviour, help the child to develop pro social behaviour. The ability of a child to control emotions, attention, and behaviour is a set of skills known as self-regulation. All of these help with the development of competence and resiliency that will buffer and protect against risk factors.

Interpersonal:

The single best predictor of a youth becoming dependent on substances is having family members who are themselves substance abusers, or where there is a family history of substance abuse. General parenting abilities and family functioning are also important influences. Families with disruptions in “family management”, such as disorganization or chaos, poorly defined rules and poor communication patterns, can lead to behavioural problems. The structure or make-up of a family (i.e., two parent or single parent lead) can have an effect on the stressors (risk) that impact family members, as can the strength (protective) of the extended family network and their involvement in a youth’s life.

Other risk factors are experiences of abuse (physical, sexual and emotional), perceived prevalence of use, and substance use by friends. Attaching to a peer group that uses drugs and have a tolerance for substance use is another strong predictor of adolescent drug use.

Community and Societal:

Exposure to drug selling or use in the community, perception of high use in their community as the “norm”, lack of law enforcement and economic disadvantage are all risk factors at the community level and need to be considered when working with a youth.

Risk and protective factors can affect youth at different stages of their lives. At each stage, risks occur that can be changed through prevention intervention. Early childhood risks, such as aggressive behaviour, can be changed or prevented with family, school, and community interventions that focus on helping children develop appropriate, positive behaviours. If not addressed, negative behaviours can lead to more risks, such as academic failure and social difficulties, which put children at further risk for later drug abuse.

Therefore, an important goal of prevention is to change the balance between risk and protective factors so that protective factors outweigh risk factors.

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