This research explored links between social support, self-control, religiousness and engagement in risk-behaviors among adolescents in Palestine. Results found that higher scores on social support correlated with lower scores on risk behaviors, while higher levels of self-control were correlated with lower scores on specific behaviors including drinking, smoking and drug use. Higher scores on religiousness were correlated with lower levels of drinking, drug use and premature sexual activity. While the parameters of the factors must be discovered, the implications of these findings for research are ample and include not only the mechanism of the relationships but how to enhance the protective factors in potentially disenfranchised youth in Palestine.
Abstract. In family systems, it is possible for one to put oneself at risk by eliciting aversive, high-risk behaviors from others ( Cook, Kenny, & Goldstein, 1991 ). Consequently, it is desirable that family assessments should clarify the direction of effects when evaluating family dynamics. In this paper a new method of family assessment will be presented that identifies bidirectional influence processes in family relationships. Based on the Social Relations Model (SRM: Kenny & La Voie, 1984 ), the SRM Family Assessment provides information about the give and take of family dynamics at three levels of analysis: group, individual, and dyad. The method will be briefly illustrated by the assessment of a family from the PIER Program, a randomized clinical trial of an intervention to prevent the onset of psychosis in high-risk young people.
A Public Health Perspective on School Dropout and Adult Outcomes: A Prospective Study of Risk and Protective Factors From Age 5 to 27 Years