External Strengths from the Model of Positive youth Development and Consumption of Substances Among a Sample of Mexican and Colombian Adolescents

Abstract

The objective of this research was to analyze and com-pare the external strengths of adolescents from Mexico and Colombia with different levels of substance use. It was a non-experimental and cross-sectional field research project involving 1,987 male and fema-le adolescents (49.87 % from Colombia and 50.13 % from Mexico) with an average age of 16.64 years. The strengths evaluated covered two broad areas: family (Parenting Practices Scale, Andrade & Betancourt, 2010) and friends (scale developed for this study). Substance use was measured with indicators of a behavioral risk inventory (Andrade & Betancourt, 2008). The results indicated that the central hypothesis of the study was confirmed in the sense that young people who have not consumed alcohol, tobacco, and/or drugs have more external strengths than those who have served those substances. Non-consuming Mexican adolescents re-ported more parental communication and supervision and fewer consuming friends and antisocial behavior. In the case of the Colombians, not having friends who engaged in risky behaviors was an asset that protected them from consumption.