You invest a lot of time and effort into keeping your kids safe and healthy. In fact, it's possibly the most important thing you'll do as a parent. You make sure they get enough sleep, eat fruits and vegetables, and brush their teeth. Prevention is the key to keeping your child well. Preventive measures-also called "protective factors"-can help keep your child from using alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs.¹ In contrast, risk factors are like red flags that can warn you about possible dangers in your child's future-and help you take steps to prevent those dangers.

A child faces a range of risk and protective factors at home, in school, and in his neighborhood. The more risk factors a child faces, the more likely he is to have substance abuse and related problems as a teen or young adult. Conversely, more protective factors typically result in children making healthier decisions. Often, it's the balance of these risk and protective factors that helps children make good decisions and avoid problem behaviors.

Parents should be aware of the connection between risk factors and drug abuse and take comfort in the knowledge that, at each stage of their child's development, risks occur that can be changed through prevention intervention.

Protective Factors

Parents can provide one of the most important protective factors: a strong family bond. When you and your children hang out and have fun together, you develop a sense of closeness and trust and help strengthen family ties. Time together also gives you a chance to share your values and expectations about different issues, including substance use. Understanding risk and protective factors is complicated because they both influence decisions and behaviors. In addition, what may be a risk factor for one person may not be a risk factor for someone else. But, if you let your child know up front that you don't approve of young people using alcohol, tobacco, or drugs, your child is less likely to use them.² Research shows that parental influence is a primary reason that youth don't do drugs,³ so it is important to speak up and let your children know where you stand.

A list from Introduction to Risk Factors and Protective Factors spells out some of the individual, family, community, peer, and school influences to help parents understand the range of protective factors.

Risk Factors

Many types of risk factors are rooted in a child's family life. Would it surprise you to learn that parents' permissiveness is a bigger factor in teenage drug use than peer pressure?⁴ Research shows that children whose parents don't use fair and consistent discipline are more likely to engage in risky behavior.⁵ Making rules, explaining the need for them, and enforcing them consistently are important. Parents need to establish and regularly enforce family rules as they guide their children toward daily habits of self-discipline. Refer to Set Rules for Your Children About Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illegal Drugs for tips on establishing and enforcing family rules.

Risk and Protective Factors in Your Family's Regular Routine

You have a chance to improve many of your child's protective factors every day, regardless of her age or stage. Start by spending time together-cook and eat dinner together, go for a walk, ride your bicycles, drive the carpool, play board games, volunteer at the animal shelter, or share other activities that you and your child can enjoy together. Like the steps you take to keep your child's body healthy, you can develop a solid relationship to help protect her from substance use and help keep her well in body, mind, and spirit.

Sources

Additional Resources

Arons, B.S. 1999. A preview of the new CMHS school violence prevention program. Rockville, MD: SAMHSA, CSAP.

Davis, N.J. 1999. Resilience: Status of the research and research-based programs. SAMHSA, CSAP.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. 2003. Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents: A Research-Based Guide for Parents, Educators, and Community Leaders, Second Edition, last referenced 7/6/07.