Risk, Resiliency, &
Protective Factors
(4-30-08)
Risk, At Risk, Children Placed At Risk
Factors associated with worse than expected developmental outcomes
Michael Rutter
low socioeconomic status
larger families
lower intelligence
children being in careMore complex views of risk
subject characteristics
intelligence
family history of maladjustmentenvironmental characteristics
poverty
urban setting
discrimination, crime, overcrowding anomie
maltreatment
neglect
abusesubject-environment interactions
temperament/child rearing
attachment
Resiliency
Why do some children turn out better than expected?
Child focused protective factors
Intelligence
“Easy temperament”
Self-Esteem ?Environmental factors
Protective Factors
Broad concept: can be subject, environmental, or interactive
Positive Role Models
Positive Peer Influences
Well functioning familiesFiguring out casual relationships
Interaction
Children influence, as well as are influenced, by their environments
Risk and protective factors are often interactive: their joint effects are seldom simply additive or linear.
2 risk factors are usually worse than 1, but often are more then "twice" as bad as 1.
Particular combinations of risk factors are often especially destructive (or more benign):"difficult temperament" + inconsistent parenting is an especially unfortunate combination