Annual of social work, Vol. 22 No. 2, 2015.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.3935/ljsr.v22i2.67
DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES IN YOUNG PEOPLE EXPOSED TO ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN THE COMMUNITY AND THE ROLE OF FAMILY FUNCTIONING
Marina Štambuk
orcid.org/0000-0001-6637-3676
; Department of Psychology, Centre for Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Dean Ajduković
orcid.org/0000-0001-9223-360X
; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Dinka Čorkalo Biruški
orcid.org/0000-0002-2954-4349
; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Using an ecological approach as the conceptual framework, we investigated the connection between the exposure of young people to antisocial behaviour in the community and their developmental outcomes and checked the mediating role of family functioning and the moderating role of gender. A total of 558 adolescents of an average age of 16.4 years participated in the research. The applied instrument was a questionnaire on socio-demographic information and five measures of different ecological system levels: Scale of exposure to antisocial behaviour in the community (exosystem), Parental awareness scale, Scale of family atmosphere (microsystem), General self-efficiency scale and a Questionnaire of strengths and difficulties (indicators of developmental outcomes). In accordance with the main propositions of the ecological developmental model, the systems closer to the person tend to be more significant for the prediction of their functioning compared to more distant systems. Exposure to antisocial behaviour in the community proved to be significant only in predicting externalized difficulties, whereas for internalized difficulties and individual strengths the significant predictors were only the indicators of family functioning. The mediating role of the observed aspects of family functioning in relation to exposure to antisocial behaviour in the community with externalized difficulties was partial, while it was full in relation to exposure to antisocial behaviour in the community with internalized difficulties and individual strengths. Identified indirect effects of family functioning are small to medium. The participant's gender did not show a significant moderating role in relation to exposure to antisocial behaviour in the community, family functioning or developmental outcomes of young people.
Keywords
antisocial behaviour in the community; parental supervision (knowledge); family atmosphere; externalized difficulties; internalized difficulties
Hrčak ID:
147577
URI
Publication date:
5.10.2015.
Visits: 3.358 *