Positive Behaviors, Problem Behaviors, and Resiliency in Adolescence

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Abstract
This chapter examines risk and protective factors within adolescents and their environments and the manifestation of those factors in terms of risk behaviors or resiliency. A detailed exploration of four major risk behaviors in adolescents (i.e., teenage sexual activity, alcohol and/or substance use/abuse, delinquency and antisocial behavior, and school failure) is presented along with the risk factors found to be associated with them. Evidence is presented with regard to the co‐morbidity of those risk behaviors and risk factors. Understanding risk behaviors forms a foundation to understand the influence of risk behaviors on the developmental trajectory of young people. Moreover, specific attention to major risk behaviors also offers a basis for understanding the importance of multiple ecological influences, multiple constitutional influences, and the interactions that occur between them.The chapter then investigates the beginning of resiliency research and follows the field's development through to its current status and theoretical understanding of resiliency. Empirical findings related to protective factors and their interaction with risk factors are also presented. These interactions are critical to the overall development of adolescents, both in positive and negative directions. Understanding why so many are able to overcome adversity provides us with some direction in intervention efforts.