2007 · Study · English
Measuring risk and protection in communities using the Communities That Care Youth Survey
Arthur, M. W., Briney, J.S., Hawkins, J.D., Abbott, R.D., Brooke-Weiss, B.L. and R. F. Catalano
Arthur, M. W., Briney, J.S., Hawkins, J.D., Abbott, R.D., Brooke-Weiss, B.L. and R. F. Catalano (2007). Measuring risk and protection in communities using the Communities That Care Youth Survey. Evaluation and Program Planning, 30(2), 197–211. doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2007.01.009
Summary
Methods paper on the Communities That Care Youth Survey, which measures risk and protective factors shown in earlier research to predict adolescent drug use, delinquency and violence. The authors describe the development and validation of cut points for the survey's risk and protective factor scales that distinguish young people at higher from those at lower risk of problem behaviour. With such cut points a surveyed population can be described by the proportion of young people at risk, or protected, on each predictor, which helps a community prioritise among factors. Alternative cut points are compared and the discriminant validity of the chosen values tested. The results show that cut points with sufficient sensitivity and selectivity can be set for every scale, so that risk and protective factors can be reported as prevalence rates. Published in Evaluation and Program Planning, it is the basis of the percentage-at-risk profiles that CTC communities use to select priorities in phase 3.