Original scientific paper
The Sodability, Parenthood and Adaptation of Adolescents on the Croatian North Adriatic Islands
Petar Bezinović
; Institute for Social Research of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Antun Petak
; Institute for Social Research of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper is the first attempt to research the islandity in Croatia as the determinant of the
quality of parenthood. The paper is relevant for two reasons: the first, psychological researches
undoubtedly point at an exceptional importance of the impact the parenting has
on the child's psychic and social development: the unacceptance of the child and the lack
of warmth and support can cause emotional problems and make the psychic adaptation
during the childhood and later on more difficult. The second, among other factors, the
parent's relation towards the children depends on the particular type of island social solidarity
and control, traditional culture and system of values. The objective of the research
was to find out are there differences in the parenthood style in North Adriatic islands,
the town of Rijeka and in Gorski kotar region, and if these differences exist, what are
their effects on the quality of parent-adolescent relationship, and to find out whether the
quality of parenthood and the adolescent's adaptation are connected. The data were collected
in 1998 by the method of questionnaire among the proportional sample of middle
schools students in Primorsko-goranska county, and for this paper the data gained from
312 middle schools students from the islands of Krk, Rab, Lošinj and Cres, 1676 students
from the town of Rijeka and 154 students from Gorski kotar were processed. The quality
of parenthood was measured by the scale of evaluation of parents' attitude and of the
encouragement of the sons' and daughters' autonomy, while the adolescents' adaptation
was measured by the scale of their satisfaction with their lives, the existential emptiness,
the manifest aggressiveness and their autonomy. E'jor the first and the second problem a
two-way analysis of variance was carried out, and for the third one a canonical
correlational analysis was made. The results of the analyses lead to conclusion that parents
on the islands give the least emotional warmth, support and autonomy, whilst
daughters get the worst treatment (the mothers allow significantly more autonomy to
sons), and that the adolescents on the islands, especially the girls, have more problems
with psychic adaptation then their coevals in close regions. There is no difference in the
manifest aggressiveness between the young islandbrs and the people of the same age in
other regions, but it is indicative that the level of aggressiveness of island girls is rather
high. The level of autonomous behaviour and adaptability of young islanders is also
lower. The authors came to the following conclusions: (a) young islanders, in particular
the girls, make a specific risky group within the young population of Primorskogoranska
county; (b) the differences between the young islanders and the other two
groups of adolescents are determined by the quality of parenthood as well, and they
point at a particular destroyed traditional (patriarchal) parent's style on the islands.
Keywords
islandity; adolescents; quality of parenthood; psychic adaptation of adolescents
Hrčak ID:
100230
URI
Publication date:
12.12.2002.
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