Resilience : an examination of protective factors among at-risk youth in an educational setting

Adolescence can be a time of turmoil, and for a young person faced with adverse situations or at-risk of various adverse situations, this time can be even more difficult to be successful. How is it that some youth can overcome these adversities and lead successful lives? These youth are also known to have resilience. The present research examined the effects of protective factors on youth at-risk in an educational setting. Seventy-seven youth between the ages of 14-19 from non-mainstream educational settings completed questionnaires examining the role of perceived parenting style, academic self-efficacy, and social support on academic success. It was hypothesized that for at-risk youth who report their parents in being authoritative in their parenting style there would be a significant positive correlation between academic self-efficacy, social support and academic success. It was also hypothesized that at-risk males would score higher than at-risk females on academic self-efficacy. The final hypothesis was that at-risk females would score higher than at-risk males on social support. Through correlation analysis and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), the results indicated that at-risk youth who report their parents as being authoritative in their parenting style felt they had more people to rely on for support and felt more successful in their academic studies than at-risk youth who did not report their parents as authoritative in parenting style. The results also indicated at-risk females reported more people they could rely on for support than at-risk males. Post hoc analysis on gender differences indicated all females scored significantiy higher than all males on grade percentage, and at-risk males were significantiy more satisfied with their support than at-risk females. Other post hoc analyses are discussed, along with descriptive statistics and implications for future direction.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat