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The purpose of this study was to explore whether adolescents (N=10,287) could be classified into homogeneous subgroups based on their protective factors and, if so, whether these constellations of protection differentially relate to adolescents' lifetime and 30-day alcohol and tobacco use. Latent class analysis with eight protective factors-four internal and four external-were used to identify the underlying latent class structure. Five profiles of protection emerged: Adequate Protection (54%), Adequate External Protection (9%), Adequate Protection with Low Adult Communication (16%), Adequate Protection with Risky Friends (9%), and Inadequate Protection (12%). Lifetime alcohol use was associated with only a modest increase in odds of belonging to the Adequate External or Low Adult Communication latent classes, but an enormous increase in odds of having Inadequate Protection or Risky Friends. Similar effects were found for past month alcohol use. Unlike alcohol use, which was related most strongly with membership in the Risky Friends latent class (relative to Adequate Protection), cigarette use was most strongly related to membership in the Inadequate Protection latent class. Findings can be used to inform prevention programs as they illustrate the relationships that exist between adolescents' profiles of protection and substance use. Keywords Adolescents; Protective factors; Substance useThe study of adolescents in prevention science has-over the past quarter century-undergone a metamorphosis. Whereas earlier research was steeped in the deficit orientation characteristic of the traditional medical model, prevention research today takes a decidedly more balanced perspective: acknowledging not only adolescents' deficits but also their assets (see Catalano et al. 2002;Schwartz et al. 2007). Stemming, in part, from increased attention to resiliency (e.g., Masten 2001; Werner 1989) and positive youth development (e.g., Damon 2004;Silbereisen and Lerner 2007), prevention science has come to value the important role adolescents' positive dispositional attributes and attachments play in preventing risk behaviors. Shifting from a deficit-to a strength-based paradigm has opened a line of inquiry in prevention science focused on the personal characteristics and developmental contexts that insulate against risk and promote well-being. To date, however, much of this empirical research has been limited, often failing to demonstrate how an individual's constellation of protective factors cultivates protection.The present study builds on and extends the literature on assets that protect adolescents from substance use by exploring multiple dimensions of protection and their relationship with Defining Protection in AdolescenceThe variables that safeguard adolescents from risk behaviors and promote well-being (e.g., school bonding, family boundaries) have variously been called protective factors (Rutter 1979), developmental assets (Scales and Leffert 2004), and supports and opportunities (Roth et al. 1998). While the diff...

Community contexts are important ecological settings related to problem behavior and positive youth development (PYD). While substantial work has focused on neighborhood disadvantage, the current study explores the role of community assets, specifically linkages to important institutional resources and people in those settings. These concepts are explored in a crosssectional sample of African American and White, male and female adolescent offenders with an eye toward approaches to reducing further delinquency. The findings of confirmatory factor and path analyses demonstrate that personal relationships and linkages to important community resources including recreational, school, faith-based, extended-family, and workrelated sources, are related not only to better family functioning but also to positive peer relations and indirectly to youth self-reliance. This study highlights the potential role of community networks and support in the lives of youthful offenders and their families, a population in need of more research identifying potential positive pathways of development.

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