Developmental Competencies and Associated Risk & Protective Factors by Context

Infancy and Early Childhood

Competencies: Infants begin understanding their own and others’ emotions, to regulate their attention, and to acquire functional language

• Individual: difficult temperament
• Family: parental drug/alcohol use, cold and unresponsive mother behavior

• Individual: self-regulation, secure attachment, mastery of communication and language skills, ability to make friends and get along with others
• Family: reliable support and discipline from caregivers, responsiveness, protection from harm and fear, opportunities to resolve conflict, adequate socioeconomic resources for the family
• School/community: support for early learning, access to supplemental services such as feeding and screening for vision and hearing, stable and secure attachment to childcare provider, low ratio of caregivers to children, regulatory systems that support high quality of care

Middle Childhood

Competencies: Children learn how to make friends, get along with peers, and understand appropriate behavior in social settings

• Individual: poor impulse control, sensation-seeking, lack of behavioral self-control, impulsivity, early persistent behavior problems, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, antisocial behavior
• Family: permissive parenting, parent-child conflict, low parental warmth, parental hostility, harsh discipline, child abuse/maltreatment, substance use among parents or siblings, parental favorable attitudes toward alcohol and/or drug use, inadequate supervision and monitoring, low parental aspirations for child, lack of or inconsistent discipline
• School/community: school failure, low commitment to school, peer rejection, deviant peer group, peer attitudes toward drugs, alienation from peers, law and norms favorable toward alcohol and drug use, availability and access to alcohol

• Individual: mastery of academic skills (math, reading, writing), following rules for behavior at home and school and in public places, ability to make friends, good peer relationships
• Family: consistent discipline, language-based rather than physically-based discipline, extended family support
• School/community: healthy peer groups, school engagement, positive teacher expectations, effective classroom management, positive partnering between school and family, school policies and practices to reduce bullying, high academic standards

Adolescence

Competencies: Adolescents focus on developing good health habits, practice critical and rational thinking, and seek supportive relationships

• Individual: emotional problems in childhood, conduct disorder, favorable attitudes toward drugs, rebelliousness, early substance use, antisocial behavior
• Family: substance use among parents, lack of adult supervision, poor attachment with parents
• School/community: school failure, low commitment to school, not college bound, aggression toward peers, associating with drug-using peers, societal/community norms about alcohol and drug use

• Individual: positive physical development, academic achievement/intellectual development, high self-esteem, emotional self-regulation, good coping skills and problem-solving skills, engagement and connections (in school, with peers, in athletics, employment, religion, culture)
• Family: family provides predictable structure with rules and monitoring, supportive relationships with family members, clear expectations for behavior and values
• School/community: presence of mentors and support for development of skills and interests, opportunities for engagement within school and community, positive norms, clear expectations for behavior, physical and psychological safety

Early Adulthood

Competencies: Individuals learn to balance autonomy with relationships to family, make independent decisions, and become financially independent

• Individual: lack of commitment to conventional adult roles, antisocial behavior
• Family: leaving home
• School/community: attending college, substance-using peers

• Individual: identity exploration in love and work and developing a world view, subjective sense of adult status, subjective sense of self-sufficiency, making independent decisions, becoming financially independent, future orientation, achievement motivation
• Family: balance of autonomy and relatedness to family, behavioral and emotional autonomy
• School/community: opportunities for exploration in work and school, connectedness to adults outside of family