INDIVIDUAL LEVEL APPROACH BEHAVIORAL PROBLEM

Individual Level Approach Behavioral Problem

Individual Level Approach Behavioral Problem

Introducton

Project developers have demonstrated that a large proportion of adolescents engage in severe problem behavior. individual-level community capacity is inversely associated with behavior problems among adolescents. Contextual studies provide some limited support for this hypothesis. Such problem behaviors are markers for youth-related problems, such as teenage pregnancy and school failure.

Project Questions

Drawing on a social organization perspective, the conceptual model was designed to examine three project questions, each of which is related to a path in the model. Specifically, the study aimed to answer the following project questions: 1. Is the community capacity within a community inversely related to behavior problems among adolescents? 2. Are youths' perceptions of community capacity inversely associated with behavior problems among adolescents? Is the link between individual-level community capacity and behavior problems among adolescents moderated by group-level community capacity? Behavior problems have adverse consequences for youths, caregivers, and society. For example, adolescents who have engaged in behavior problems also tend to experience academic difficulties. Furthermore, caregivers of adolescents with behavior problems experience elevated rates of mental health disorders such as depression. The behavior problems of some youths also have the potential to jeopardize the safety of other youths around them and, consequently, society bears an increased financial cost, highlighting another consequence linked with behavior problems. Thus, the behavior problems of certain youths affect multiple levels of the community, from the adolescents themselves to their families and schools to society as a whole. Community scholars have advocated the use of a social organization perspective to understand youth behavior problems. Social organization, in general, refers to the “collection of values, norms, processes, and behavior patterns in a community that organize, facilitate, and constrain the interactions among community membershat can influence individual behavior.

Social organization theorists have hypothesized that community capacity—one aspect of social organization in a community—functions as a mechanism to deter behavior problems. Community capacity refers to the extent to which community members demonstrate a shared responsibility for one another and take collective action to accomplish goals and to meet challenges in the community. In communities with high community capacity, youths have the opportunity to interact with adult community members and establish strong social bonds. Theoretically, these social bonds foster youths' commitment to social norms and thereby discourage their engagement in problem behaviors. Although scholars have theorized that community capacity can deter problem behavior ...