An overview of prevention of multiple risk behaviour in adolescence and young adulthood

The observed clustering, and shared underlying determinants, of risk behaviours in young people has led to the proposition that interventions should take a broader approach to risk behaviour prevention. In this review we synthesized the evidence on ‘what works’ to prevent multiple risk behaviour (focusing on tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use and sexual risk behaviour) for policy-makers, practitioners and academics. We aimed to identify promising intervention programmes and to give a narrative overview of the wider influences on risk behaviour, in order to help inform future intervention strategies and policies. The most promising programme approaches for reducing multiple risk behaviour simultaneously address multiple domains of risk and protective factors predictive of risk behaviour. These programmes seek to increase resilience and promote positive parental/family influences and/or healthy school environments supportive of positive social and emotional development. However, wider influences on risk behaviour, such as culture, media and social climate also need to be addressed through broader social policy change. Furthermore, the importance of positive experiences during transition periods of the child–youth–adult phase of the life course should be appropriately addressed within intervention programmes and broader policy change, to reduce marginalization, social exclusion and the vulnerability of young people during transition periods

Social networks of spotted hyaenas in areas of contrasting human activity and infrastructure

In group-living animals, the structure of social interactions among group members can have important consequences for individual fitness. Changes in resource abundance can influence social interactions with an expected weakening of social ties during times of resource scarcity. Although human activity and infrastructure often impose a disturbance on animal populations, they can also be a source of reliable resources that are relatively easy to access. We evaluated whether the social networks differed between four spotted hyaena, Crocuta crocuta, clans experiencing contrasting levels of human activity and infrastructure in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The clan living in an area of high human activity and infrastructure had a less dense social network than the other clans, and the clan living in an area with limited human activity and infrastructure had shorter path lengths than the other clans, suggesting that it had more closely associated individuals. Our results did not support substantial differences between clans in the relative social network positions of animals from different age and rank classes. Contrary to our expectations, we suggest that anthropogenic resources may have weakened the social cohesiveness within spotted hyaena clans. We also argue that our study supports previous suggestions that there may be individual variation within broader classes of rank, age and sex in the position of individual animals in social networks.The National Research Foundation (incentive funding for rated researchers awarded to E.Z.C. and F.D.), by the University of Pretoria (incentive funding for rated researchers awarded to E.Z.C. and F.D. and a research fellowship awarded to F.D.) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (research fellowship awarded to F.D.).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/anbehav2019-01-01hj2018Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog