Executive Summary
In 2016, the Indian Valley Character Counts! Coalition conducted an assessment of the risk and protective factors that exist in its community. This assessment was performed as part of the Coalition’s “Communities That Care” efforts to prevent problem behaviors among area youth. The Communities That Care system provides research-based methodologies to prevent youth substance abuse, delinquency, violence, and other detrimental behaviors.
This system was developed by Dr. David Hawkins and Dr. Richard Catalano. It is based on their research, which has identified risk factors that predict youth problem behaviors and protective factors that buffer children from risk and help them succeed in life.
A key goal of the Communities That Care effort is to identify which risk factors, protective factors and problem behaviors are prevalent in our community, and implement evidence-based programs that address our community’s unique profile. To that end, the Risk- and Protective-Factor Assessment work group collected and analyzed data from the Indian Valley. Then with input from the community, they identified priority risk factors to address as well as community strengths to build on.
The assessment was completed using the Pennsylvania Youth Surveys (PAYS), the Search Institutes Profiles of Student Life Survey (40 Assets) and data collected from the community. The PAYS survey was administered in October of 2015 to students in grades 6-12 in all Souderton Area School District Schools. The 40 Assets Survey was administered in October of 2015 to students in grades 8-12 in all Souderton Area School District Schools and included one private school, Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. To get the most complete picture of our community the Risk and Protective-Factor Assessment work group also collected data from public records to measure risk factors and problem behaviors not covered by the survey. Much of this data was provided by local police departments.
Based on the analysis of the data and input from the community, the following risk factors were identified as priorities for community attention:
- Depressive Symptoms (Peer/Individual)
- Perceived Risk of Drug Use (Peer and Individual)
- Parental Attitudes Favorable Towards Drug Use and Antisocial Behavior (Family)
These risk factors were selected as priorities for prevention action primarily because data indicated that they are significantly elevated throughout the Indian Valley. This data is also consistent with data from other youth surveys conducted in the community over the past six years. Survey data also reveal areas of strength among youth in the Indian Valley, where the protective factor “Rewards for Prosocial Involvement” is significantly higher than state or national averages.
This report recommends that the community give particular attention to the risk factors noted above when developing the community’s action plan to prevent youth health & behavior problems and promote child and youth well-being.