Youth at Risk

A Prevention Resource for Counselors, Teachers, and Parents

David Capuzzi, Douglas R. Gross, David Capuzzi, Douglas R. Gross

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781119535720
• Edition: 7
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Professional Development

This comprehensive text, written by experts in each topical area, provides research-based approaches designed for work with youth in the difficult transition from adolescence to adulthood. Developmental in its orientation, the text moves from population definition and identification, to causal factors and issues most often identified with placing youth at risk, to a prevention–intervention paradigm specifically created for teens. Illustrative case studies and enlightening sidebars enhance reader self-awareness, promote self-study and skill development, and aid in the comprehension of the concepts and applications of chapter material. Complimentary PowerPoint slides, test banks, and instructional activities are available for instructors' use by request to ACA.

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PART I
Introducing the Problem

Any person who either works with or lives with youth becomes increasingly aware of the potential that exists for the development of at-risk behaviors. This awareness is enhanced by media coverage, educational reform, mental health programming, governmental mandates, and law enforcement reporting. The ongoing bombardment of the vulnerability of youth is a call to action for all persons involved with this population. Prior to taking such action, however, one must understand not only the demographics of this population but also current definitions, at-risk behaviors, generic causal factors, and prevention and intervention approaches to dealing with youth at risk. Part I of this text provides this foundational information. Chapter 1, “Defining Youth at Risk,” introduces the topic of at-riskness by providing foundational information related to definitions, at-risk behaviors, and causal factors that enhance the development of at-risk behaviors. The chapter concludes with an introduction of the concept of resilience and the prevention and crisis management paradigm.

Building on this foundation, Chapter 2, “Prevention: An Overview,” lays the groundwork for understanding the various strategies incorporated in the term prevention. Information presented in this chapter includes the goals and purposes of prevention; primary, secondary, and tertiary concepts related to prevention; and program examples to illustrate the place of prevention in the broad spectrum of helping. Some discussion of schools’ efforts to develop tragedy response plans is also included. The chapter concludes with an explanation of how to plan prevention strategies.

Chapter 3, “Resilience: Individual, Family, School, and Community Perspectives,” adds dimension to the prevention crisis management paradigm by offering counselors, teachers, and parents an alternative view that sees youth at promise rather than at risk. This chapter provides key research, effective practices, professional possibilities, and definitions. It sets forth ideas for practices promoting resilience and establishes a framework for seeing youth as having innate self-righting capacities for changing their life trajectories. It describes discourses that deal with risks, racism, poverty, and careers in ecosocial contexts rather than in people and promotes an outlook that asks people to slow down enough to listen deeply to the stories embedded in everyday lives.

These first three chapters provide a necessary foundation for all persons wishing to reduce the vulnerability of youth and promote positive coping and the ability to deal with issues and transitions that take place throughout the life span.

Chapter 1
Defining Youth at Risk

Douglas R. Gross and David Capuzzi

As John Patron sat down at the large table in the conference room, he hoped that something positive could come from this meeting—perhaps something finally could be done to help some of the students in his classroom. He knew that he had been instrumental in forcing Ms. Callis, his principal, to call this meeting. He hoped that all of his colleagues attending the meeting shared his view on the urgency of taking some positive action.

This was John’s third year of teaching, and each day he was confronted with problems in his classroom. The problems were not those of math, his subject area, but problems that he observed and that were reported to him by many of his students. The problems covered a wide range of areas, including pregnancy, gangs, drugs and alcohol, violence, eating disorders, and dropping out of school. Certainly he was not the first to notice these problems or the only teacher in whom students confided. If these problems were so obvious to him, why hadn’t something been done to deal with them? Most of his students were now juniors in high school, and he was sure that the problems did not have their origins in attaining junior status.

He did the best he could, but he was not trained to handle these issues. In seeking direction, he talked with the school counselor, the school psychologist, and Ms. Callis. Although all of the people he contacted wanted to help, they were also overwhelmed by the demands on their time. John’s questions for the most part went unanswered. If he was correct that these problems had not begun during the students’ junior year in high school, why hadn’t something been done earlier? Hadn’t former school personnel recognized the difficulties these students were having? Hadn’t parents asked for help with their children? Why hadn’t something been done to prevent these problems from developing? John hoped that answers would be forthcoming at the meeting.

After the meeting John sat in his classroom and reflected on what had happened. He was very pleased that he was not alone in his concern about the students and that his colleagues had raised many of the same questions that plagued him. He was also pleased that many of his colleagues saw a need for adding trained personnel to work with teachers, students, and parents in developing strategies to intervene in the disrupted lives of many of the students before it was too late. John felt that several helpful outcomes had resulted from the meeting. The first of these was exploring the development of prevention strategies aimed at early identification of problem behaviors and establishing programs directed at impeding their development. This outcome generated much discussion centering around such questions as “What constitutes prevention?” “How does prevention differ from crisis management?” “What have other schools tried, and what has worked?” “Do we need to go beyond the school to build a prevention program?” and “What part will the community and parents play in the prevention program?”

The second outcome dealt with identifying other risk issues, such as low self-esteem, issues in the family, suicide, increased sexual activity, bullying, the impact of homelessness, and excessive dependence on social media. This outcome had led to a discussion of the questions “Are there community resources we can use to aid us in better dealing with these identified problems?” and “What do we need to do to effectively utilize these resources?”

A third outcome dealt with the concept of resilience and the related questions “What makes some young people resilient to high-risk environments while others succumb to these same environments?” and “What are the characteristics of both the individual and his or her environment that make him or her resistant to these high risks?” John had not thought much about resilience and was excited about finding answers to these questions. He sensed that the questions had come more easily than the answers would.

The major directives that came from the meeting were (a) the establishment of a committee to investigate what was currently being done by other schools to develop an approach to prevention, (b) the development of a list of community mental health services that could be utilized by the school to supplement the work currently being done by the school staff, and (c) the collection of data relating to the concept of resilience and how these data would affect the development of a prevention program. John had volunteered to serve as chairperson of the committee investigating current programs and to assist in gaining more information about the issue of resilience. He looked forward to the next meeting that was scheduled in 2 weeks.

• • •

This hypothetical situation is repeated over and over in school districts across the United States as teachers, counselors, administrators, community leaders, and parents attempt to better understand what needs to be done to provide effective programs to help with the growing numbers of young people who are labeled at risk because of their involvement in certain destructive behaviors and to help prevent the development of these destructive behavioral patterns. The question these concerned professionals are striving to answer is “Do we continue to deal with the problem behaviors of young people from a crisis management perspective, or do we take a preventive approach to attempt to stop these problem behaviors from developing?”

The answer to both parts of this complex question is yes. With the growing numbers of young people entering educational systems identified as at risk, it is not possible to say no to continuing crisis management strategies. Because of these increasing numbers, however, most educational systems are not equipped to address this problem from a purely crisis management perspective. Therefore, steps must be taken to attempt to stop its development. Such steps are usually described in terms of prevention modalities aimed at providing programs that will identify young people with the highest potential for developing at-risk behaviors, prevent these destructive behaviors from developing, and work to identify individual and environmental characteristics that enhance the resilience of the individual and his or her environment. Thus, we must continue to intervene at the points of crisis and at the same time set into place prevention programs that will eventually reduce the need for crisis intervention.

This chapter first provides a foundational perspective on at-risk youth by presenting definitions, identifying the population, and describing the population’s behavioral and causal characteristics. It then introduces the concept of resilience and concludes with a discussion of a prevention and crisis management paradigm (see Sidebar 1.1).

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Sidebar 1.1 Taking a Stand on Crisis Management Versus Prevention

As in the hypothetical situation presented at the beginning of this chapter, we are often called on to take a position regarding how best to handle difficult situations. Where do you stand on crisis management versus a preventive approach? Place yourself at John Patron’s meeting and identify questions and concerns you would raise. What advice would you give John as he seeks workable solutions to what he sees as insurmountable problems? Are the outcomes and directives from the meeting sufficient to address the identified problems? If not, what outcomes and directives would you add?

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A Foundational Perspective

Many problems are encountered in attempting to understand the concepts and issues that surround the term at-risk youth. Such problems center on defining cause and effect, calculating and determining the population, and developing and implementing both prevention and crisis management programs that have an impact on the various destructive behaviors that place youth at risk. According to Conrath (1988), “Principals and teachers have known at risk youth for a long time. They have recently been discovered by poli...