Examining the relationship between risk, protection, self-control and resilience

Jeffrey W. Rosky

doi:10.7273/000006037

This research examines the effect of cumulative risk, cumulative protection and self-control for the outcomes of binge drinking, problems from drinking, property crime, assaultive behavior, adult arrests, and adult convictions. Findings from the bivariate analyses were mixed. Binge drinking and problems from drinking were not positively associated with increasing number of risk factors, nor were they negatively associated with increasing number of protective factors. Binge drinking was not negatively associated with protection-risk difference, but the outcome of problems from drinking was negatively associated with risk-protection difference. Those with a deficit were most likely to report problems and those with a surplus were least likely to report these problems. The other four outcomes -- property crime, assault, adult arrest, and adult conviction -- positively correlated with risk and negatively correlated with protection. Additionally, bivariate analyses results showed that increasing numbers of risk factors increased the likelihood of these outcomes, increasing numbers of protective factors decreased their likelihood, and those with a higher number of risks than protective factors had an increased likelihood of these outcomes. In examining resilience -- experiencing exposure to criminogenic influences yet remaining crime free -- the results revealed no consistent patterns of protection or risk beyond the finding that those who amassed more protective factors than risk factors reduced the likelihood for the outcomes. This suggests that while each risk and protective factor served to enhance or diminish the likelihood of crime and deviance, the totality of items, both favorable and unfavorable, that an individual experienced was more salient than considering each factor individually. Lastly, results from logistic regressions showed that interactions between cumulative protection-risk difference and self-control were salient in predicting some but not all of the outcomes. These findings question the salience of self-control for all types of crime and deviance in the presence of cumulative risk and protection. However, these results also demonstrate that self-control is an important predictor for most crime and delinquency, but that there are apparent interactions with cumulative risk and protection that moderate the effect of self-control in certain contexts. Relevant policy implications and future research are also discussed.

Examining the relationship between risk, protection, self-control and resilience

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