Gender and educational stage moderate the effects of developmental assets on risk behaviours in youth

ABSTRACT

Developmental assets describe sources of individuals’ experiences and supports that impact their developmental outcomes. Internal assets comprise youth skills, competencies, and self-perception, while external assets include support in youth contexts, empowerment, expectations and boundaries, as well as use of free time. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between developmental assets and risk behaviours, and if gender and educational stage have moderating roles in these relationships. The types of risk behaviours ranged from expressions of aggression to consumption of addictive substances. Upper secondary school and university students from Croatia (N = 728) reported internal and external developmental assets, and risk behaviours. Our results suggest that developmental assets have similar roles in protecting all students from risk behaviours, apart from expectations and boundaries, which seem to be more protective for boys. Furthermore, the results suggest that developmental assets have a stronger effect on upper secondary school students’ risk behaviours.

KEYWORDS:

• Positive Youth Development (PYD)
• gender
• developmental assets
• risk behaviour
• youth
• upper secondary school students

Acknowledgments

We thank all the schools, faculties, and students for participating in this study, and student assistants who helped with data collection. We are eternally grateful to Nora Wiium for including us in the Cross-National Project on Positive Youth Development, and for advising us and supporting our work on this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

The study was approved by ethics committees in Croatia and Norway: Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek (class: 602–04/18–01/29, number: 2158-83-02-18-2) and NSD – Norwegian Centre for Research Data (approval number is 51708/3/IJJ).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gabrijela Vrdoljak

Gabrijela Vrdoljak, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia, where she teaches courses in educational psychology. Most of her research is in the field of educational psychology, but she has a growing interest in research and education on positive youth development, as well as socio-emotional learning.

Ana Kurtović

Ana Kurtović, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia, where she teaches courses in clinical psychology and developmental disabilities. She is a counsellor and the head of the Psychological Counselling Centre for Students at the J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek. Most of her scientific work is in the area of protective and risk factors for mental health in youth and young adulthood. She also has training in Cognitive – behavioural therapy, Acceptance and commitment therapy, Compassion focused therapy, and Shema therapy.

Ana Babić Čikeš

Ana Babić Čikeš, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia, where she teaches courses in developmental psychology and psychological counselling. Most of her research is on the topic of measurement, validation, and development of emotional intelligence, but also on positive youth development, newer forms of risky behaviour in youth and cheating in academic settings.

Marina Hirnstein

Marina Hirnstein, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway, where she is responsible for the module Motivation Psychology. She has also taught developmental, cognitive, and educational psychology on Bachelor and Master levels, and research ethics, methods, and design on PhD level. Her research covers topics related to school and educational psychology, including positive youth development, youth mental health, cognitive and motivational processes in learning and performance, educational interventions, technology enhanced learning, and mathematical problem solving.