Why do protective factors protect? An evolutionary developmental perspective

Abstract

Abstract A growing body of research has identified a list of protective factors that decrease the likelihood of an individual engaging in criminal and antisocial behaviour. However, despite substantial empirical advances in our understanding of the factors that protect against offending, relatively little theoretical work has been directed at explaining why these factors serve a protective function and the notion of protective factors, like risk factors, is conceptually problematic. In this article I argue that we can advance our understanding of what protective factors are and why they serve a protective function by taking an evolutionary developmental perspective. More specifically, an evolutionary informed framework is provided that outlines two broad models for understanding individual differences in antisocial and prosocial behaviour. First, I suggest that individual differences in antisocial (and prosocial behaviour) are linked to the development of alternative life history strategies in response to different environmental contexts. More specifically, I argue that ‘protective’ factors can often be conceptualised in terms of features of the environment and/or feature of individuals that promote and/or reflect the development of slow life history strategies. Second, drawing from recent research on individual differences in plasticity I highlight how our conceptualisation of protective (and, indeed, risk) factors is contingent on the interaction between individual susceptibility to environmental influence and relevant environmental contexts. In other words, often what counts as a ‘protective’ factor depends on individual differences in plasticity. Inevitably, as our understanding of why protective factors protect improves, there will be advances in the nature and scope of our interventions to improve prosocial outcomes and prevention efforts will be enhanced.