Riverside Insights Blog

Supporting Students Through a Risk and Resilience Framework

Written by karinavargasf744b73aa5 | Dec 4, 2025 7:03:19 PM

Mental well-being remains on the minds of district leaders across the country. While mental well-being interventions in schools can be effective, many students do not get access to the full range of support they need due to shortages of school-based mental health professionals. By taking a proactive risk and resilience approach to student well-being, districts can proactively identify potential concerns through universal screening and give all students support toward developing social-emotional skills which serve as protective factors against mental health risks. This early intervention plays a critical role in preventing behaviors from escalating.

To better understand how a dual-factor risk and resilience model may support predictive measures of students’ well-being, our Research & Development team conducted a research study and published their results in this newly-published white paper.

Explore the Risk and Resilience Framework White Paper

Overview of the Study

There were 271 students cross the United States and one U.S. territory involved in the study. Students completed three self-report assessments that measured: 

    1. Their social-emotional competencies (resilience)
    2. Their internalizing and externalizing concerns (risk)
    3. Their perceptions of their well-being 

Then, data was analyzed to address two main research questions: 

    • Does the use of risk and resilience measures identify a broader group of students in need?
    • How accurately does a combination of a student’s self-reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors (risk) and their social and emotional competence (resilience) predict students’ well-being? 

Conclusion

The goal of education is not just to help students get by; it is to help them thrive and live their lives to the fullest. 

This study shows that looking at both risk and resilience factors helps understand and predict students’ well-being.  Highlighting, that to truly support students, we need to consider both their strengths and challenges—not just one or the other.