The main goal of this paper is to examine the level of intensity of externalized behavioral problems and external protective factors, gender differences and the connection between these phenomena in children and youth, beneficiaries of the interventions of the Croatian Institute for Social Work. In particular, the research aims to determine the level of intensity of aggressive behavior and rule breaking behavior and external protective factors according to the Youth Development Module, gender differences and the connection between the mentioned terms. This research is part of the project "Development of an questionnaire for assessing the phenomenological characteristics of children's behavior in the social welfare systemsystem" which is carried out within the framework of the A STEP FORWARD (ISKORAK) program (the program is carried out from 2021 to 2024). The sample consists of 90 children and youth, aged 12 to 18, beneficiaries of the interventions of the Croatian Institute for Social Work. Of the total sample, the majority are boys (N=51), while girls are represented in a slightly smaller number (N=39). The following instruments were used in the research: Resilience and youth development module (WestEd & CDE, 2000, 2001) and Child and youth behaviour questionnaire (Mirosavljević et al., 2023). During data analysis, descriptive statistics methods (arithmetic mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range of results), Spearman's correlation coefficient and Mann–Whitney U-Test were used. The results of this research are as follows: children and youth, beneficiaries of the interventions of the Croatian Institute for Social Work, rate their own aggressive behavior and rule breaking behavior low, while their external protective factors they rate highly. Furthermore, it was shown that there are no gender differences in aggressive behavior and rule breaking behavior. In relation to external protective factors, the difference between boys and girls exists only in the area of high expectations from an adult in school, in such a way that girls show higher results in that area than boys. Aggressive behavior is significantly negatively associated with the following external protective factors: caring adult relationships in home, high expectations from adults at home, at community and from friends, connection with the school, meaningful participation at school and meaningful participation at home, while rule breaking behavior is significantly negatively associated with all external protective factors according to the Youth Development Module.