Typology of youth at risk

Dafna Etzion, Shlomo Romi

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    31 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    The absence of an accepted definition and classification for youth at risk has led to heterogeneous therapeutic grouping, often preventing appropriate intervention. The proposed typology, based on research conducted in Israel, is an initial attempt to classify these adolescents into relatively homogenous groups according to a complete set of personality and behavioral variables. The research tool was a questionnaire administered to 282 youths in distress and a contrast group of 217 normative youths. Cluster analysis that was used to construct the typology for the youths at risk, revealed four clusters: Suspended - relatively high scores in all positive adjustment measures, fewer-than-average deviant behaviors, higher-than average rate of suspension from school; Sociablists - relatively low positive adjustment measures, relatively high social adjustment, markedly higher-than-average negative adjustment measures (deviant behaviors and suspension from school); Alienated - significantly low positive adjustment measures, especially personal adjustment, higher-than-average negative adjustment measures; Loners - low positive adjustment measures, especially low social adjustment, lower-than-average negative adjustment measures (few deviant behaviors or school suspensions). The derived typology can be used to create interventions geared to personality and behavior rather than to external/demographic characteristics. A proposed intervention, with specialized programs for each group, is presented.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)184-195
    Number of pages12
    JournalChildren and Youth Services Review
    Volume59
    Early online date30 Oct 2015
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 1 Dec 2015

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

    Funding

    The research project reported in this paper was in part sponsored by the Institute for Education and Community Research , School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. The authors wish to express deep gratitude to Dr. Mati Ronen for his invaluable help and support.

    FundersFunder number
    Institute for Education and Community Research
    School of Education, Bar-Ilan University

      Keywords

      • Adjustment
      • Disengagement
      • Educational intervention
      • School dropouts
      • Typology
      • Youth at risk

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