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Targeting Resiliency to Increase Youth Success

Targeting Resiliency to Increase Youth Success. Gabriel Garcia, PhD, MA, MPH Department of Health Sciences University of Alaska Anchorage. Sarah Sledge, MPA Director, Community Action United Way of Anchorage. Anchorage United for Youth. Increase graduation rates

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Targeting Resiliency to Increase Youth Success

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  1. Targeting Resiliency to Increase Youth Success Gabriel Garcia, PhD, MA, MPH Department of Health Sciences University of Alaska Anchorage Sarah Sledge, MPA Director, Community Action United Way of Anchorage

  2. Anchorage United for Youth • Increase graduation rates • Reduce substance use rates • Reduce delinquency

  3. Challenges & Issues GOAL: Anchorage youth succeed in school and in life • High School Graduation • 59.6% in 2005 • Youth substance use • 41.3% drinking alcohol • 27.9% binge drinking • Youth violence and crime • 1836 juvenile arrests • 18% Anchorage HS students reporting dating violence

  4. What challenges and issues are facing youth in your communities? What problems do you see? What do you think it would take to address these problems?

  5. Effective Intervention: School Disengagement and Delinquency Increase Family Support Non-profit Sector For-profit sector City Government State Government • Increase graduation rates • Reduce substance use rates • Reduce delinquency Increase Supportive Adult Relationships Federal Government Faith Based Organizations Increase Meaningful Opportunities for Youth Effective Intervention: Substance Use Tribal Organizations Individuals Funders Neighborhoods

  6. Factors that indicate a greater probability that problem behaviors will occur. Risk Factors & Risk Behaviors

  7. Current Drinking 23% of students reported binge drinking in the past 30 days. 68%of those who drank at least one drink of alcohol in the past 30 days reported binge drinking. 25% of students reported riding a vehicle driven by someone who had been drinking in the past 30 days.

  8. Current Drinking among Groups • 11th & 12th graders have higher current drinking (~40%) & binge drinking (~30%) rates than their counterparts. • More than a third of Latinos reported binge drinking in the past 30 days, this is higher than other ethnic groups. • Current drinking (~35%) binge (~20%) among teenage boys and girls are similar.

  9. Cigarette & Marijuana 66% of those who currently smoke cigarettes currently smoke marijuana. 3% of students have ever used heroin and 4% have ever used methamphetamines in their lifetime.

  10. Physical Fights & Bullying 35%of those involved in physical fights in the past year reported bringing a weapon in the past 30 days. 13% of students have been physically hurt by their boyfriend or girlfriend in the past 30 days. • 20% report being bullied in school within the past 12 months. • There is a significant correlation between being bullied and attempted suicide.

  11. Being Bullied in School • Those with mixed race/ethnicity have the highest reported rate of being bullied in school (26%) compared to other racial/ethnic groups. • Teen girls are more likely to report being bullied as compared to teen boys.

  12. Relationship between Risk Behaviors & Grades

  13. Risk Behaviors & Grades Grades & Current Alcohol Use Grades & Current Binge Drink

  14. Risk Behaviors & Grades Grades & Marijuana Use

  15. Risk Behaviors & Grades Grades & Physical Fights

  16. Students’ grades in school decreasedwith increasing frequency of alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and marijuana use.

  17. Understanding Behavior Development Heath Programs Predisposing knowledge, attitudes, beliefs (Health educ. programs) Biological/Genetics Behavior Reinforcing parents, teachers, other adults, grades (SAR, FS) Enabling volunteer opportunities, skills development, etc… (MO, FS) Environment (Environmental Strategies) Based on the PRECEDE-PROCEED model by Green & Kreuter

  18. Resiliency (Protective) Factors Factors that contribute to the likelihood of avoiding risky behaviors.

  19. Resiliency Composite Index • How much parents spend time talking with them regarding school • Teacher encouragement • Number of adults besides parents they would be comfortable seeking help • Hours spent volunteering to help others • Days spent in organized after school activities • Feel they matter to people in their community Resiliency Score Range: 6 to 35 (The higher the resiliency score, the more resilient the individual)

  20. Literature on Risk & Protective Factors • Having a higher GPA and family connectedness are key protective factors. • As the # of protective factors increase, the probability of initiating smoking decreased by 19.2% to 54.1% (Scal et al., 2003). • Need to implement prevention strategies that focus on risk reduction and protection enhancement (Scal et al., 2003; Scheier et al,1996; Hawkins et al., 1992).

  21. Resiliency & Grades

  22. Resiliency & Attempted Suicide

  23. Resiliency & Current Drinking

  24. Resiliency & Smoking

  25. Resiliency & Marijuana Use

  26. Based on regression analysis, the higher the resiliency score… • The less likely students are to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, and smoke marijuana.* *Regardless of the youth’s race, grade level, and gender.

  27. Based on regression analysis, the higher the resiliency score… • the higher the grades of the students.* *Regardless of the students’ race, gender, and grade level

  28. Practice Implications • Develop programs that help improve grades and keep students in school. • Enhance family support (and other adults) and teacher support (if possible). • Continue advocating for policies that will make it difficult for teens to engage in risk behaviors. • Social marketing and health education strategies to educate teens about the dangers of risk behavior. • Social marketing strategies that: (1) let youth know they matter in the community and (2) let adults know they need to support youth in their communities. • Continue providing meaningful opportunities.

  29. AUY Strategies • Meaningful opportunities • Family support and engagement • Supportive adult relationships

  30. Our Youth are Making Better Choices and Staying in School • Routine teen alcohol use dropped 6% since 2005 • Teen binge drinking dropped 5% since 2005 • Dropout rate decreased 50%

  31. 2005 60% 2011 72 %

  32. 90% by 2020 TV Spots

  33. What ideas do you have to increase youth resiliency in your communities? Questions for us?

  34. Conclusion • We have made some progress. • Most of our teens are not “bad”. But, we need to be mindful of emerging problems. • We need to continue to promote and build “resiliency factors” through the programs that you currently have, and increase the “reach”—especially to disadvantaged population. • Evaluation is important. • Be mindful of the limitations of YRBSS. The findings are only generalizable to high school students in Anchorage traditional schools. Results may be different for alternative schools and McLaughlin Youth Center. We need to also look at available statistics in our city and state.

  35. Targeting Resiliency to Increase Youth Success Gabriel Garcia, PhD, MA, MPH Department of Health Sciences University of Alaska Anchorage Sarah Sledge, MPA Director, Community Action United Way of Anchorage

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