Risk & Protective Factors
The Communities That Care domains, with PAYS 2025 numbers
Risk and protective factors explain why behaviors change — and they're where prevention has the most leverage. Statewide percentages below come from the 2025 PAYS Profile (267,379 students).
267,379 students · official baseline
Explore by domain
Legend Risk factor — % at elevated risk Protective factor — % with protection present
Community-domain factors
Percent of students at elevated risk on each CTC scale
n = 267,3792025% at elevated risk
Source: 2025 Pennsylvania Youth Survey, statewide profile
Read protective alongside risk
Two communities can show the same risk profile but very different outcomes because one has invested in protective factors — adult attachment, prosocial opportunities, healthy norms. Plan for both, and track movement on protective scales as a leading indicator of prevention impact.
Subgroup spotlight
Risk and protection load unevenly by subgroup — coalitions should pair statewide scales with local subgroup cuts.
Students with low family attachment
3.4×
Higher composite risk score vs. peers
Rural communities
+5 pts
Perceived availability of handguns vs. urban
Students with 3+ protective factors
−42%
Lower past-30-day any-substance use vs. peers
Subgroup cells with n < 30 are suppressed. See methodology.