While identifying what resources should be the target of effective intervention is important,
determining how to impart these resources to young people is equally important. The view of
Social environment-level
resources
Protective mechanism Select authors
Socio-economic status * Material resourced Maggs et al. (1997)
Wolff (1995)
Allen (1998)
School experiences * Supportive peers
* Positive teacher influences
* Success (academic or not)
Werner (1995)
Rutter (1987)
Supportive communities Believes the individual’s stress
Non-punitive
Provisions and resources to assist
Belief in the values of a society
Smith (1999)
Werner (1995)
Wolf (1995)
Table 1 (continued)
6 C.A. Olsson et al. / Journal of Adolescence 26 (2003) 1–11many writers in the field is that young people learn critical, adaptive skills not so much through
instruction, but through experience. ‘‘Protectionyresides, not in the evasion of risk, but in
successful engagement with ityprotection stems from the adaptive changes that follow successful
coping.’’ (Rutter, 1987, p. 318). The idea of protecting young people by removing them from
potentially difficult life circumstances, or not exposing them to the complexities and hardship of
the world around, does not hold