Risk and Protective Factors Risk and Protective factors relate to students' chances of starting to use ATODs or experiencing other problems. They are often easier to influence and to measure than the drug use behavior itself, so these factors have become a powerful tool for program planning and design. Resiliency is one kind of protective factor. Resiliency research has been around for a long time, but started to be applied to prevention of ATOD use in the mid -1980s.
Resiliency is seen as the innate capacity that everyone has to bounce back from adversity.
It can be either nurtured, or overburdened by personal choices or social conditions. Resiliency proponents work to assure that all youth have social networks supportive of their resiliency. Resiliency can mitigate the effects of risk factors, and thus reduce the likelihood of ATOD use among students. One framework for classifying protective factors is Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets for Youth. The developmental assets approach is not a program, but seeks to focus community attention and efforts on supporting youth through these assets.