PROTECTIVE FACTORS IN ADOLESCENT PROBLEM BEHAVIOR - MODERATOR EFFECTSAND DEVELOPMENTAL-CHANGE

The relation of psychosocial protective factors to involvement in prob lem behavior-alcohol and drug abuse, delinquency, and sexual precocity -was investigated in a longitudinal study of 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-grade adolescents in a large, urban school district. Protective factors wer e drawn from the personality, the perceived environment, and the behav ior systems of problem-behavior theory. The findings show a significan t inverse relation between protection and problem-behavior involvement . There is a significant interaction between protection and risk in th e prediction of problem behavior: Protection is shown to moderate the relation of risk to problem behavior. Protective factors are also sign ificant predictors of change in adolescent problem behavior over time. Direct effects of protection are consistent across all gender and rac ial/ethnic subgroups; moderator effects are evident for female, White, and Hispanic subgroups only.