Risk Behaviors among Young People: The Role of Developmental Assets

Abstract

Youth risk behaviors have both personal and societal consequences and can also have grave economic cost if not addressed effectively. Positive Youth Development (PYD) as a theoretical framework proposes that facilitating developmental assets (i.e., internal and external assets, such as positive values and social support) among young people would lead to positive outcomes as well as a possible reduction in negative outcomes. The empirical evidence supporting these assertions mostly come from studies involving American samples. In the present study, we examine whether the experience of more developmental assets is associated with less engagement in three risk behaviors: drunkenness, violence and crime among 591 Norwegian students (55% girls), mean age 16.70 (SD = .90). Our results indicate that while several significant correlations were observed between developmental assets and risk behaviors, only two internal assets: positive values and social competence, and two external assets: support and boundaries and expectations were significant predictors of a risk behavior in multivariate regression analysis. Although these positive findings have some implications for intervention and youth policy, more research is needed to ascertain the short- and long-term protective effects of the developmental assets on risk behaviors among Norwegian youth.

Keywords

• positive youth development
• developmental assets
• risk behaviors
• Norway