Define and explain risk factors and protective factors. Why are these important in creating successful treatment results?
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: Personal vulnerability can be shaped by two separate groups of factors in a person's life. The first are risk factors, which make it more likely that a person will be involved with drugs. The second are protective factors, which make it less likely that a person will be involved with drugs. Together, risk factors and protective factors combine to give us some idea about the likelihood that drug-taking behavior will occur.
Specific Risk Factors
Certain factors that may appear to be strong risk factors for drug-taking behavior in general (socioeconomic status) turn out to have an association that is far from simple and may depend upon the particular drug under discussion. The most reliable set of risk factors consists
of psychosocial characteristics that reflect a tendency toward nonconformity within society. Young people who take drugs are more inclined to attend school irregularly, have poor relationships with their parents, or get into trouble in general. As discussed earlier, sociologists refer to such individuals as members of a deviant subculture.
The effects of participating in a socially deviant subculture are highlighted by the increased probability that an individual will display some level of drug-taking behavior.
Protective factors provide the basis for someone to have stronger resistance against the temptations of drugs, to have a degree of resilience against engaging in a drug-taking life-style, despite the presence of risk factors in that person's life. Each group of factors operates independently of the other. One way of thinking about protective factors is to view them as a kind of insurance policy against the occurrence of some future event that you hope to avoid.
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