The social development model (SDM) (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996) describes processes involved in the development of positive and problem behaviors, and identifies parallel but separate causal paths for prosocial and antisocial processes, with each path consisting of opportunities, involvement, rewards/costs, bonding, and beliefs. SDM family-focused interventions have targeted specific parenting behaviors as have other interventions. SDM-based interventions have demonstrated efficacy in the reduction of delinquency, drug use, and risky sexual behaviors (Haggerty, Skinner, Fleming, Gainey, & Catalano, 2008; Haggerty, Skinner, MacKenzie, & Catalano, 2007; Hawkins, 1999; Hawkins, Kosterman, Catalano, Hill, & Abbott, 2008; Lonczak, Abbott, Hawkins, Kosterman, & Catalano, 2000). Research has identified parent behaviors as major risk factors for and protective factors against youth antisocial development, especially noncompliant, disruptive behavior and substance use problems. In the SDM, the social developmental causal processes are not hypothesized to differ by demographic group, but rather, gender, ethnicity, and poverty are seen as affecting the opportunity structures (prosocial and antisocial) of children. For example, children in poverty or belonging to minority ethnic groups may have fewer prosocial opportunities and more antisocial opportunities, but the magnitude of the structural links between these opportunities and later developmental outcomes is hypothesized to be comparable across groups.
